she showed me all the stars { shelby }

Tomie yawned. Again. Okaaayyy, she thought, so staying up all night wasn’t as easy as she’d thought it was going to be. And maaaybee that was especially true after a 7 AM start the morning previously, and an entire day spent doing all kinds of physical activities. But whatever! It was the last night of camp! and tomorrow she’d be back home with her stupid older brothers, sharing a room with her stupid little sister! This was really her last proper night of being able to do whatever she wanted, and for Merlin’s sake – She was staying up.

All.

Night.

“Your go, Trickett,” She said sleepily. Tomie squinted down at her own cards, almost unable to read them in the weak light provided by the little candle she’d made in an arts and crafts class. Was a candle in a blanket fort a good idea? Well, obviously not. But Tomie had nicked a mug at breakfast and a candle in a mug didn’t feel as bad, did it? She’d stolen the lighter early on, to sterilise the sewing needles she and Benny had used to pierce each other's ears. It wasn’t like they could just turn the light on, anyway; someone would probably see it, and then they’d get told off.

Tomie yawned and immediately Shelby felt her mouth opening and her eyes shutting. No! She couldn't go to sleep yet - she could sleep tomorrow after everyone had taken the portkey back to England. She stifled the yawn as fast as she could, but it was a little too late. It was embarrassing - she hadn't even done that much today, compared to Tomie. And this is what Tomie wanted to do on her last night at camp, so even if she was getting sleepy and even if it was super warm in the blanket fort, Shelby had to stay awake!!

At least their selection of card games had improved. Rummy was much easier to play while falling asleep than War was. Shelby picked up a new card - nice, that was a run. She thought maybe she should lose on purpose, but right now it seemed like the game was going her way. She discarded a five face up. squinting at her cards in the fire light. Not for the firs time did she wish they could use magic here - a Lumos light would be so much better. "Its so stupid they won't let us do magic here," she grumbled - it was late, and her filter was off.

“Right?” Tomie said, the eyeroll implied in her tone, if not, like, her actual eyes. She stared at her cards a little longer, her thoughts drifting away a bit and only coming back into focus when she made them. She’d been meaning to leave the words there, but it was easier to drift a bit when she wasn’t talking, so the brunette sat a little straighter and rolled her shoulders back a couple of times. “Kinda fun getting lost in the woods with no magic, though,” she commented, flicking her gaze up to Shelby’s, a cheeky look in her eye.

Of course, it hadn’t really been all that fun at the time. But as far as Tomie was concerned, it’d already happened – she’d moved on. It was just a kind of funny story now, and it was funnier without magic. She reached for a card, almost knocking over the candle-mug, and quickly shot a hand out to catch it. “Maybe we shouldn’t have this in here,” she admitted, giving Shelby a sheepish smile.

"Was it?" Shelby remembered mostly being anxious and feeling bad about forgetting the compass and map the whole time. It sure had seemed like more fun for Tomie et al, though. "Would have felt safer if I could have done the find north spell," Shelby grumbled, but it had been fun and it would make a funny story. One day.

 "Hey," Shelby waved her hand in front of Tomie's eyes, "it's your turn!" Tomie was clearly fading - maybe they could go and try to get some coffee from the mess hall. It couldn't be that hard to sneak in, could it? Tomie knocked over the candle - Shelby gasped, reaching out her hand to catch it but Tomie had already done so. "Merlin, that was close." She pulled the mug closer to her, further from Tomie. "Do you think the counsellors have gone to bed?" It would be so much safer to have the light on.

“It’d be kinda cool to be dumped out in the forest, but with our wands,” Tomie commented, raising her eyebrows. “Kinda like triwizard tournament style,” She said, thinking of the maze task. “Only, y’know, without big bad V,” she added hastily. Tomie wanted to yawn again, but she stifled this one. In her head, she was already imagining how cool it would be to go out into the forbidden forest and try to survive-slash-get-back-to-school with only the magic they’d learned already. Maybe someone could levitate her up high enough to know which direction to go in…

She blinked when Shelby waved her hand. Tomie was definitely drifting. When she almost lit their blanket fort on fire, she decided she needed to work to be more awake. “Dunno,” she replied. “What time do adults go to bed?” Her parents usually went to bed not long after her, but her oldest brother was always up the latest. "Why, what're you thinking?" she asked, smiling a bit.

Shelby nodded - they had made it back without magic, hadn't they? A challenge like that would be so easy for the four of them. Or even the two of them. "I wish we had something like the Triwizard Tournament," she said wistfully, flicking the back of Tomie's cards. "Like, inter-house maybe, and without champions. Just a different challenge than Quidditch, you know?" Shelby was helpless at flying but maybe she could handle that swimming task.

When do adults go to bed? Shelby sat for a moment - Mum and Dad tended to go to sleep at like, eleven at night, but she knew Freya and her other cousins could stay up later than that. "Uh, maybe one in the morning?" Shelby leaned in conspiratorially, her voice a whisper despite the fact there was no one to hear them. "I think they leave the hot water and tea out overnight for the counsellors, maybe we could go nick some?" The Gryffindors were rubbing off on her - she wouldn't have dared to even consider breaking the rules a year ago.

“That sounds wicked, Shelby,” Tomie said, mildly impressed. She hadn’t thought about it before, but quidditch really did rule the school when it came to competition between the houses. There was an entire cup for it, for Merlin’s sake. “You should write a proposal or something. A petition,” she added, raising her eyebrows.

Tomie blinked when Shelby suggested sneaking out. The Ravenclaw girl was usually the least adverse to breaking the rules out of all of their little squad – the squad being JR, Benny, Tomie and Shelby. With Wendy in there sometimes as a fifth member, of course. She was quick to replace her surprised expression with a grin. “Really?” she asked, checking Shelby’s commitment to sneaking out rather than her knowledge about the tea, or patterns of adult behaviour. “Yeah, lets do it,” she said, her expression lighting up at the proposal.

Shelby looked at her friend's face, trying to confirm that Tomie really did think her little idea was cool - in the dim light of the mug-candle, it seemed genuine. Still, a proposal sounded like a lot of work. "I'm thinking about starting a couple clubs, actually, but maybe after I fill those applications out? If Professor Flitwick isn't annoyed of me by then." Shelby would kill for a rowing club, she had fallen absolutely in love with the boats out here, and there was an upperclassman who seemed enthused about an Astrology club. "I'd have to think of less dangerous versions of the challenges, too." It sounded like a fun research project, though.

"Really!" Shelby was a little shocked at her own audacity - it must be the sleep deprivation. That, and an uncontrollable need to impress Tomie before the other girl went home, and to facilitate her friends desire to stay up all night. Shelby climbed her way out of the pillow fort, reaching for the watch on her desk. It was after midnight, but not quite one yet. "We should make a plan, or - ooh, do you have any dark clothes?" It would be fun to dress up all in black. Like spies.

“Oh really?” Tomie asked, both genuinely interested and trying not to read too much into the fact that Shelby hadn’t told her that she was thinking about starting a “couple of clubs” as she’d said. “What for?” she asked, tidying up her cards – they were clearly done with the game – and putting them face down on the floor beside her. Just in case.

Tomie hadn’t ever thought about that before, just starting a club. Shelby made it sound so easy, so naturally the Gryffindor wondered what kind of club she would start. Quidditch was already a thing, so what else did she love? The brunette considered it for a moment, but really it was obvious; food. Was there a food club at Hogwarts? Did she need to start one? The menu could do with a bit of variety, she thought privately.

“Yeah I do, do you?” she asked, nodding, still grinning. She even had a black cap, perfect for the occasion. “I have some clean black stuff if you don’t,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows. "Incognito."

"Yeah," Shelby said sheepishly. "Uh, I was talking to one of the upper-year Slytherins after Astronomy tutoring at the end of term, so the Astrology club is really her thing, I think? But I just got the idea for a boat club the other day." One of the muggle-born American kids talked about how their parents had done rowing in college, and Shelby had asked so many annoying questions. "I haven't told anyone about that one yet, but I'm kind of hoping maybe one of the older kids would be willing to help?" There was that gaggle of Gryffindors that hung out with JR's older sister - they seemed promisingly athletic. "Or Simon. I don't know, I might still chicken out." Running a club seemed hard, but the idea of it was so alluring. "I figured you all had Quidditch, so," Shelby shrugged. "You all are going to be practicing a lot, right?"

Shelby rolled out of bed, throwing open her chest of drawers before realizing she wouldn't be able to see her clothes in the dark anyway. "I think I have a clean pair of trousers and a shirt? Can you bring the mug over?" A little light would help.

“Oh, cool,” Tomie said, nodding. It made sense that Shelby wanted to make an astrology club, and if she’d refrained from telling Tomie about it because she thought the Gryffindor girl wouldn’t be into it, then she would be correct. Tomie liked having her future read to her, and she liked getting caught up in it, but she didn’t want to actually study it or anything. It turned a fun thing into a chore. “Boat club?” she repeated, frowning a little. Boats like, sailing, she wondered? “Oh, like rowing? Kayaking?” she asked quickly, catching up a moment late.

Tomie crawled out of the entrance to the blanket fort they’d strung up over Shelby’s bed and brought the mug with her. “Here you go,” she said, making her way over to her friend and putting the mug on the drawers so Shelby could adjust it as she needed. A part of her was disappointed that she couldn’t be helpful and offer Shelby a black shirt or something. “Sounds fun,” Tomie said. She’d liked the kayaking, but she wasn’t a very strong swimmer and the idea of rowing or kayaking across the lake at Hogwarts in the middle of winter made her want to die.

She tiptoed quietly over to her bag and crouched down beside it. It was mostly packed; she’d made a half-assed attempt at being organised for this trip, though her success was dubious. Tomie was already in black basketball shorts, so with some guessing and squinting, she dug out a black t-shirt. The girl cast a quick look over her shoulder and then swapped her PJ top for the t-shirt quickly.

"Ready," she said, standing up.

Tomie didn't seem all too interesting in Astrology club, as Shelby knew she wouldn't be. "Yeah, like rowing, mostly." Shelby thought getting a big sailboat in the lake would be cool though. "I don't know if they will let me, though - there's like, mermaids or whatever in the lake." How territorial were mermaids? A question for another time. "I just think it would be fun to have something for us who are rubbish at flying." She glanced at Tomie's face - it was true that Shelby was not a good flier, they both knew that, but Shelby wanted to check she didn't offend her friend by saying so.

Tomie set the mug down - by the dim light Shelby was able to pull out her trousers (clean) and realize her shirt was in the laundry. "Do you still have an extra shirt, Tomie?" Shelby asked, turning around and then quickly spinning back as she realized Tomie was changing shirts right now. She took the moment to quickly change into the dark pants instead of her bright baby blue pajama shorts. "Mine's, uh, in the dirty pile, I forgot." She waited for Tomie to say ready before turning around - hopefully in the dark Tomie couldn't see how red her face had gotten.

“True,” she replied, nodding slowly. “Still, if you get some of the older kids into it, like you said, maybe you’ll have a better chance?” She shrugged, then nodded about the flying thing, her thoughts still sort of lingering on the idea of a food club. There were a couple of older Asian kids at Hogwarts. The number dipped a bit if she cut out her and Shelby’s older siblings – Ara hated cooking, so he was definitely out anyway. Tomie wrinkled her nose in the dark, though, realising that a “food club” would probably be more of a “cooking club” anyway.

She liked cooking! It wasn’t something she talked about much, but that was mostly because she’d had to work so hard for all of the boys to respect her in a certain way, and liking cooking seemed like it was something that might undermine the way she was seen. Not just by the boys, either – Tomie knew that she was perceived as a bit of a tomboy, kind of “one of the boys”. She roughhoused with the guys and made stupid jokes with them and wasn’t prissy or girly at all. It was one of the things Hazel So hated about her. Before their weird truce, or whatever, that was.

Tomie heard Shelby getting changed behind her, so she hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the spare shirt she had out of her bag and waited, feeling a bit awkward. Once they were both dressed, she tossed the shirt lightly to her friend. “There you go,” she said. She tucked her hair behind her ears and put her cap on backwards, feeling very cool and stealthy.

Shelby nodded. "That's what I was thinking, but I dunno. I'm kind of scared to talk to them." Which was crazy. At the very least, she could ask Ingvar to make introductions, right? Shelby didn't want to get her hopes up. "Do you think you ever want to join a club? Like, if you get bored of Quidditch." She was careful not to say if you don't make the team, because Tomie was going to make the house team.

Shelby did up the fly of her trousers - they were her nice school trousers, but they were short around her ankles already, so it couldn't matter too much if she got them wrecked sneaking into the food hall. She turned around just in time to get hit in the face with the shirt. She let out an involuntary gasp, then laughed. "Good shot, Vos," she said, spinning around to change shirts again. Should she put her bra back on? It made her feel too self conscious, so she decided against it.

All dressed, Shelby grabbed a feel essentials - a key for their cabin, the watch, the mug. Looking up, she was stunned by how effortlessly cool Tomie looked with the hat on. "You look wicked." She glanced at her watch - nearly one o'clock. "Check outside the window, do you see anyone?" It was definitely the late night delirium, but Shelby didn't feel anxious at all.

Tomie smiled a bit at that. She felt a bit intimidated by the older kids at Hogwarts too, though that fear had diminished a lot since the start of the year. The Gryffindor already knew a couple of older kids through her brother(s), and she’d made friends with a couple more fifth years in her house recently, too. The girl thought of Josie, who was about the coolest girl she’d ever met.

If she got bored of quidditch? The idea was laughable. If she didn’t make the team next year, she’d just spend the year working harder and make it in her third year. “I dunno,” she answered with a bit of a shrug. “Maybe another sport?” she said. “Maybe rowing club,” she added with an easy smile.

She stifled a proper laugh when she accidentally hit Shelby in the face with the shirt, though. “Sorry,” she whispered, grinning. Her friend had to get changed again, so after a moment’s hesitation, Tomie turned around, too, facing the wall. She grabbed her sneakers and pulled them on.

Tomie was amused by the compliment; she wasn’t dressed that differently to normal. She looked out the window when Shelby said to, though. “Nothing,” she whispered. After a moment, she moved to the door, giving Shelby one little glance before she opened it slowly. It squeaked just a little and tomie winced, but it only took a moment and then she was stepping out into the dark. She thumbs up to indicate the coast was clear.