la vie en rose • {shelby, tomie}

Summer camp was not where she pictured herself spending any of her break. The word ‘camp’ was too indicative of an outdoor setting, in which there was bound to be insects, dirt, and rough-housing – three things Hazel So had zero interest in. Absolutely none. She’d seen the flier and turned her nose up initially, but her parents had encouraged her to think about it. A letter from Sienna confirming that she would be in attendance soon followed, and Hazel started considering the benefits of going. Activities other than the typical outdoorsy stuff were being offered, and students had the ability to choose what they wanted to do. Knowing that she wouldn’t be forced to hike or enter muddy lake water had been an added plus. After some mulling, she’d made her decision. A month later she entered the grounds donning a pink visor and a matching large backpack.

The experience hadn’t been as awful as she’d anticipated. She and Sienna had requested to be in the same cabin beforehand like the form suggested, avoiding any awkward interactions with a stranger or potentially being stuck with someone they disliked (imagine Hazel being thrown in a cabin with Tomie Vos for weeks!). Writing and art class were a lot of fun; it was in Hazel’s nature to turn anything into a bit of a task, but they felt less like work and more like leisure pastimes, especially with Brendan and Sienna being there with her. Science, on the other hand, was a lot more challenging, and gave her the same feeling she had in Transfiguration; she wasn’t exactly unenthusiastic about what was going on, but she wasn’t automatically skilled in it, and therefore felt a little frustrated in most of the lessons.

Right now, she was taking a break from courses to grab a cup of tea. Easily once of the cutest cafes she had ever seen, it proved to be the nicest surprise here. They sold lots of pastries, and the warm cozy atmosphere of the shop reminded her of the nights when her dad would try a new chocolate recipe and let her taste test while her mum pretended not to pay attention. The plan was to meet up with Sienna, but the other girl had another course and would be finishing up a little later. Hazel was going to get a headstart.

Upon entering, she noticed two of her yearmates sitting together. Hazel gave Shelby a curt nod of acknowledgment and went to order her tea, but couldn’t help but to… overhear bits of their conversation. They were currently discussing music, with Vos dismissing Joey Mowie of Joey Mowie and the Love Bugs, one of Hazel’s new favourite bands. The Slytherin couldn’t stand idly by while this slander took place. After receiving her tea, she thanked the cashier and pulled up a seat at the girls’ table.

“Excuse you, Tomie, but Joey Mowie is one of the most talented, most handsome wizards out there. Don’t you have any taste?!”

Summer camp abroad! Ingvar had gone to different ones over the years, and finally Mum had decided Shelby was old enough to go. Maybe she just hadn't been confident in the younger Trickett's ability to make do away from home, but she had survived a whole year at Hogwarts, didn't she? Not that there had been much to survive this year...

Camp honestly felt like an extension of Hogwarts at its core. Sure, they were surrounded by people from all over the world, accents breaking through the Translation charms, but she was rooming with Tomie! Okay, maybe that was still different from school where they were separated by stupid House passwords and riddles from hanging out after hours. But it was Tomie! And Benny and JR were here, too. Even Archie and Bren had made it out for the Stowe Institute's program.

Shelby was using every minute of camp to its fullest potential. The Science courses were so cool. She envied the American students who had access to this in their normal schooling. Who would she ask to get this sort of thing to be taught at Hogwarts? In her diary, Shelby had written "ASK FLITWICK?" in big red ink, circled a few times for good measure. The boating courses were her favourite physical activity so far. After the stall of the magic boats in September, Shelby felt safer knowing how to row a boat non-magically.

Her hair was still damp from kayaking when she met up with Tomie for tea. She hadn't seen Tomie too much during activity blocks - the Gryffindor seemed focused, like so many of their year mates, on the Quidditch training. There was supposed to be a mock game this weekend, If Shelby remembered the announcement right, and she was excited to cheer for her friend. The current conversation had drifted far from Quidditch into the realm of music, where Tomie seemed to know a lot more than her.

"Well, his nose can't be that big," she managed, laughing at one of Tomie's descriptions of the Love Bugs' leading man. "Joey Mowie is a silly-sounding name, though. Almost like he's a cat? Joey Meowie?"

From over Tomie's shoulder, she caught Hazel's eye. Shelby gave the other young witch a little wave. After their conversation at the end of term, Shelby was less scared of Hazel, but she still certainly wasn't friends with her. Hopefully, she was just grabbing tea and would leave them alone-

Thought too soon. Hazel marched right up to their table, dragging a chair behind her and inserting herself into the conversation. "Hi, Hazel," Shelby said weakly. Here we go, she thought, as Hazel launched right into an argument with Tomie about the singer. "Nice to... see you..." 

The highlight of this whole camp situation was absolutely the quidditch training. Tomie had spent the entire school year working on stuff - she could do proper push-ups now, and run for ages without losing her breath. She could fly a whole loop without getting too dizzy. She’d been shocked at how much her solo training had paid off; now in the fun quidditch training sessions, the young witch could really feel her improvement. Tomie had also enjoyed the hikes, and other outdoor activities. As a kid who’d spent her whole life in cities, the freedom of the natural environment here was pretty appealing.

Tomie shook her head emphatically, then held up her thumb and forefinger in a pinched L shape, in front of her face like a nose-extension. “Forreal,” she said as Shelby laughed. She grinned at the other girl’s comment, dropping her hand back to the table. Joey Meowie. She snorted.

The other highlight of this whole adventure was probably Shelby. She hadn’t ever really had a girl friend before, and even at school she spent more time with Benny, and maybe even JR and some of the other boys than she did with Shelby. Of course, she and Benny had put their names down to share a room, hoping that her ambiguous name would trick woever was coordinating rooms into letting them bunk together, but it hadn’t worked. Sharing a room with Shelby had been her next choice, though, and it had been more fun than she was expecting. They’d stayed up talking every night.

A voice cut into their laughter and she didn’t even have to look to know who was talking. That dramatic whine in the excuse you - emphasis on the -cuse syllable - right before her name, said with that disdainful edge… well, it could only be one person, couldn’t it?

“Hazel, great to see you,” Tomie said, a teasing sort of sarcasm in her voice as she shot Shelby a quick look before turning her gaze to the girl taking a seat. “Cute hat,” she added unnecessarily, leaning back casually in her chair. "Joey's not even the best looking of the Love Bugs," She disagreed, goading the other girl a bit.

“Not the best-” Hazel nearly choked on her tea. The Slytherin brought a hand to her mouth in shock, in pure disbelief that Tomie had the gall to even think something that was so utterly untrue. She took a sip of her drink, a caramel tea - extra hot - and took a moment to process what she had just heard. Hazel rested the dainty cup onto its matching floral saucer and clasped her hands together on the table. “You cannot possibly believe what you just said.” She spoke as if she was trying to convince the other girl of her own delusion. There was just no way she was talking about Joey Heartthrob Mowie!

“All right, then,” She brought her hands to her lap to smooth out her skirt before returning them to the table, “If it’s not Joey, who would you two say is the best looking?” Hazel looked back and forth at them with wary eyes, impatiently waiting for an answer. Probably a disappointing answer. If either of them mentioned the drummer, she would officially lose all faith in wizardkind. As far as Hazel was concerned, he was the reason the word ‘bug’ was in the name of the band. 

“Besides the other members, who could possibly be better?” she continued on. Hazel wouldn't be surprised if Tomie mentioned some Quidditch player she had never heard of. And knowing Shelby, she probably liked one of those famous astronomers. She tried to pinpoint in her head her own image of the ideal boy. After Joey Mowie came Rupert Hartwood, although he was becoming old news. Then there was Lionel, of course.

It only took two seconds for the two of them to be back at it. They didn't hate each other, at least. If they did why would they be talking about a boy band? Shelby still didn't really understand Hazel and Tomie's relationship. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. There was a little bit of sand in her overalls, chafing at her thighs and adding her to her general discomfort in the situation. She went to take a sip of her tea, spilled a little bit, and gave up on that. Hopefully Hazel hadn't noticed.

"Um, I don't really... know... the Love Bugs..." Shelby had heard some of their songs on the wireless, but she wasn't super into music like Hazel and Tomie were and frankly, she had no idea what any of the Love Bugs looked like. And more generally, she hadn't thought about boys - any boys, celebrity or not - in that way yet. Was that weird? The books Mum had got her for the puberty talk had mentioned feelings about men, but Shelby still was neutral on the subject.

"I guess, um, like," Shelby was stalling, trying to think of a man Hazel wouldn't mock her for finding attractive, "Albus Dumbledore? When he was younger, obviously." She had just finished the famous wizard's official biography before camp.

“I dunno, all of them,” Tomie answered boredly. She wasn’t particularly interested in the Lovebugs - it had been a far more interesting topic when she’d only been talking with Shelby - but she did have a mild interest in riling up her extremely overdramatic yearmate.

That all being true, however, Tomie did raise her eyebrows a bit at the question of who was better looking in general. She glanced at Shelby, mildly interested in hearing her thoughts. Tomie’s brain blanked for a moment before she started - predictably - mentally listing off famous quidditch players. Some of them had been in swimwear in a calendar this year; she tried to remember who they were but could only remember the girl players.

Shelby answered first, with the most ridiculous answer she could have given. She gawked, then, “Albus - !”

- Dumbledore!? Tomie snapped her attention to Hazel, stunned as the other girl said exactly the same thing in exactly the same tone, and met her look with the same confusion. Well, it looked like they could agree on one thing at least. She shook her head emphatically, an image of the very-much-old-and-wise version of the former Hogwarts headmaster appearing in her head. Her Dumbledore was straight from Benny’s chocolate frog card collection.

“Out of every wizard in existence, he’s who comes to mind?” Tomie laughed loudly.

Oh, oh no.

So maybe that had been the wrongest answer she could have given. Hazel and Tomie were both gawking at her. Maybe she should get a prize for getting them to agree on something, but right now she just wanted a Timeturner. Or a Memory Charm. Something that would let her retry that conversation. Shelby's face was hot, and not from the tea.

"What?" She shot back, on the defensive now. "he was the greatest wizard who ever lived! And have you seen his pictures as a kid?" Shelby was fairly certain they hadn't, they wouldn't be cackling at her if they had, but she was already deep in this hole and she only had a shovel. "Plus, he's going to be remembered much longer than the Love Bugs."

She pointed at Tomie - Shelby refused to stay the center of attention in this situation. "What about you? Who's your pick?" At the very least Hazel would take offense to anyone Tomie mentioned and Shelby would be safe again.

Tomie shook her head, still grinning as Shelby defended her answer. "Nope," she said, responding to the question about young Dumbledore. "You'll have to show me." Unlike Shelby, only people currently alive had come to mind when the question had been thrown out there.

“I dunno,” she said coolly with a shrug, casually leaning back in her chair but it was mostly just to tease the others, who had both answered already. Tomie laughed again, anticipating reactions, before adding, “Adi Yulianto? He’s seeker for the Indonesian national team.” Merlin, he was so cool. He always seemed really relaxed in interviews, like a person comfortable with himself. Everyone hung off every word he said; he was Indonesia's national treasure. What did that feel like?

She scratched the back of her neck, gazing into the distance as she thought. “Ooorrr.... Harlan Bellamy? Captain of the Griffins?” She couldn’t remember if he’d been on the calendar that her parents’ newsagency had stocked, but he was the captain of a whole entire team and played beater and was on the national team too, that was pretty cool. “Lip Donnelly even??” she suggested, this one aimed more at Shelby, as a suggestion for someone to have picked who was a bit closer to home. Alive, for a start. “Him or Sam for hottest prefect, anyway,” she added with a shrug, comparing them to the others in her head. Donna West, Gryffindor prefect, came to mind.

It took Hazel a while to recover from ‘Albus Dumbledore’. She did not think she could be convinced, even if shown a younger picture of him. He was already too ingrained in her brain as a pointy hat wearing, grey bearded, grandfather. The photo on the chocolate frog card popped into her head and Hazel gave Shelby another incredulous look before sipping her tea. Perhaps he was the greatest to ever live, and since her father admired him so much, Hazel supposed she ought to like him too, but to call him more attractive than Joey Mowie? She’d sooner eat the pink visor on her head.

“Joey Mowie and the Love Bugs and their music will probably be just as important as your grandfather-crush in a few years,” she said with a huff, before redirecting her attention to Tomie, awaiting the answer. When the other girl named a Quidditch player, as expected, Hazel had to hold back a yawn. She started examining her nails. The young Slytherin had no idea who any of these people were, but she could guess based on everything that had been said so far, they weren’t her type. When the conversation turned to names she did recognize, however, Hazel was visibly intrigued again, sitting up a little straighter.

Lip Donnelly. Of course she would name that delinquent. Hazel rolled her eyes, then tried to conjure up an image of the Gryffindor prefect. She supposed he was at least reasonably cute, but she definitely would not consider either of the boys Tomie had just named to be the hottest prefect. Lionel Sterling was right there! Did they even have eyes? “I think you’re forgetting someone,” Hazel replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Not only is he the best looking prefect, but he’s also the smartest,” she said haughtily. There was a pause, and then two looks of confusion. Hazel scoffed with a mixture of impatience and disbelief. “Lionel Sterling!” She spoke like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Can you even name a musician from last decade?" Shelby shot back at Hazel. Defending the longevity of her pick's impact on the wizarding world was the only defence she had left. Shelby didn't even give the comment about showing Tomie the pictures a reply. Hopefully, Tomie would forget about this before school started again and she wouldn't have to continue to defend this objectively preposterous position. She settled for nodding as Tomie named Quidditch players- she had heard of Bellamy, though only through Ingvar and JR.

The comment about Phillip was aimed at Shelby in the absence of other Ravenclaws. "He's... okay, I guess," she managed weakly, desperately wishing she was back on a canoe, or, alternatively, underwater. "Definitely better looking than Sam." Did Shelby have a real opinion on these two boys? No. Was she willing to move her bets from Albus Dumbledore to a living Ravenclaw person? Absolutely.

Hazel clearly also had some house pride, and she was kind of right. Lionel was at the top of his year, everyone who cared about that sort of thing knew that. "Well, does it really matter?" Shelby offered, taking a sip of her tea that was rapidly going cold. "It's not like we have a chance with any of those boys, right? So what does it matter if they're cute or not?" It was part deflection, part honest question.

“Do you think?” Tomie asked, weighing up the two prefects in her mind. Sam was captain of the quidditch team. Well, co-captain. Whatever. And being prefect and quidditch captain had to mean he was really hard-working, and smart, and well-liked. She imagined being in his shoes for a moment, before realising she should probably be weighing them up on something other than how cool it would be to be them. Tomie tried to picture their faces side by side, but was distracted by the rest of the conversation.

Best looking, and also smartest? Tomie stared for a moment. “Mari - ?” Hazel cut her off and she had to roll her eyes. Of course Hazel would pick the Slytherin prefect. “What, you mean that kinda creepy-looking guy?" She hunched a little, doing an impression of someone scowling, "- obviously hasn’t been outside in the last five years? That the one?” Sam at least seemed friendly and social - with this in mind, she shifted her first choice to him - but Hazel’s pick just looked kind of weird to her. Did he smile? Ever? Of course, she couldn’t remember seeing any of them aside from Sam smiling, actually, but that was beside the point.

Before Hazel had much of a chance to answer, Shelby delivered some very relevant commentary. "True," Tomie said, pointing at her, eyebrows shooting up as a lazy half-smile appeared back on her face. "So if you had to date someone in our year, then...?"

Well, that backfired, again. It was meant to deflect attention! The question was rhetorical! The question was meant to spark, like, meaningful reflection on the nature of attraction, or something. Not get spun back at her! Shelby felt a sense of intense déja vu. This conversation seemed to be spinning towards the similar one she had with her cousin Freya just a couple weeks earlier.

But Tomie was pointing at her, again. Shelby was beginning to doubt the strength of their friendship. This was probably just friendly teasing, same as Freya's had been just cheeky nosing in on her business, but Shelby felt victimized by the universe anyway. "Um, I don't know," she said, staring at the ceiling imagining the boys in their class. "JR, if he was better with his cat. Probably Simon or Archie?" She was absolutely ranking the boys by how well they treated their animals, which put the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff at the top of the list. Their toads were so cute. "I don't know, what about you? I bet it's JR or Benny." Tomie spent so much time with JR and Benny, and they were all Quidditch fanatics. "And I bet you," she turned to Hazel, "would choose... Brendan, but Archie would definitely be a better match for you."

@Brendan de Havilland   

Tommie raised her eyebrows at the guesses, but of course Shelby was right. She half-smiled, feeling bold enough to answer pretty casually. “Yeah, probably JR. Or maybe Simon, actually?” Tomie paused for a second, finding all of this pretty amusing. “Benny and I are like siblings but I’d totally date him otherwise, he’d be a really good boyfriend,” she said, as if she knew what qualities would possibly make for a good boyfriend. Nice?? Funny?? They seemed like important things. She was feeling a bit defensive of her childhood friend. Tomie made a mental note to bring this stuff up with him later – did he have a crush on someone?

Not that any of this meant anything, of course. If word got back to her parents that she was even talking about boys, she’d probably be skinned alive. If they found out she was dating someone? Well, some far greater punishment. Sometimes she couldn’t fathom it; she was supposed to stay away from boys right up until she was the perfect age to get married and start having kids or whatever, and then magically have the perfect husband. It didn’t make any sense. She sometimes got nervous thinking about her friendship with Benny, and if there would come a time when her parents would stop letting her run off whenever she wanted with him in the summertime.

Shelby made a guess at Hazel's picks and Tomie flicked her dark eyes to the Slytherin girl, feeling admittedly pretty curious for an answer. Brendan or Archie? Brendan seemed... nice enough... but kind of boring? Tomie didn't know him that well, but it made sense that someone she found pretty uninteresting would be Hazel's pick. She almost rolled her eyes. Archie, though? Tomie liked him, they were mates. She wondered why Shelby would pick him for Hazel, and felt a bit defensive on his behalf. "Why do you say that, Shelbs?" Tomie asked, genuinely curious despite herself.

“He’s not creepy-looking!” Hazel huffed, affronted once again at the utter nerve. It was becoming quite apparent that this pair had absolutely zero knowledge on the intricacies of boys. “Fine,” she said, closing her eyes and turning her head away. “I don’t expect you two to come up with anyone good.” She knew she was probably rubbing salt into a wound (Shelby seemed offended by the responses to Dumbledore but, well, could she blame them) but it was difficult to care under these circumstances. Hazel was still sore about the insulting of Joey Mowie, and now they were trying to imply that mysterious, aloof, interesting Slytherin prefect Lionel Sterling was anything other than a complete dreamboat?! Delusional. They were absolutely delusional.

She kept a cold demeanour as they begun throwing out names from their year, softening slightly at the mention of Brendan, but immediately reverting upon hearing Shelby’s comment about Archie. “Me? A match with accident-prone Archie?! Shelby Trickett, have you and your stars gone mad?” Hazel gripped the sides of her teacup, fixating on it with wide eyes. She had half a mind to demand that Shelby show her the truth in her tea, but instead chose to dismiss the astrology nonsense. If it predicted her and Archie Macnair as a pair, she knew that it was all a hoax!

“I don’t want to know why she’d even think that!” she retorted to Tomie’s question. She supposed in general there was nothing absolutely horrible about Archie but ever since he’d messed up her homework, she had held a grudge. And she was more than a little unimpressed by his many visits to the hospital wing. Hazel could feel herself growing tired of the conversation quickly. She would much prefer to tackle this topic with someone like Wendy. Finishing off her tea, she placed the cup on the saucer and swung her legs over the side of her seat.

“You know what, I think I’m just going to meet Sienna outside of class,” she told the two girls, standing up. Hazel dusted off her skirt and adjusted the collar of her shirt. “You two…” She hesitated as she picked up the cup and saucer. “Um, good luck.” And with that, she was returning her set to a worker at the counter and heading out of the cafe. As she left, she hummed to the tune of ‘Enchanted by You’ the latest hit single from Joey Mowie and the Love Bugs.

later

The little tea date had ended abruptly, with Hazel leaving in a huff and Shelby heading off to class soon after. Tomie left to go find Benny, and later that night most of the twelvies ended up together at a campfire, to share spooky stories. Tomie glanced through the fire a few times in the night, where Shelby was sat almost directly across from her.

Later, she said goodnight to the boys and headed to her room, where Shelby already was. She kicked her shoes off by the door – Merlin knew she’d tried to institute something like this in her dorm at school, but the Gryffindor girls weren’t all enthused about shoes-off-at-the-door rules – and headed to her bag, where she started grabbing things for a shower. She hated getting into bed dirty, and right now her hair smelled like smoke and marshmallows.

Shelby was sitting on top of her bed – the lower bunk of the two. “Um, are you okay, Trickett?” Tomie asked, stopping what she was doing to look at her friend. She was pretty good on the empathy part; she’d realised something wasn’t quite right when Shelby had left for science class or whatever, and then hadn’t sat next to her at the campfire, but her tact was still in development. “I mean, are you okay like okay, not are you okay, like you ‘right there?” the second one was said with a bit more condescension. “You know what I mean.”