[ttd] Expect the unexpected (Shelby)

Trudy truly loved Hogwarts. While the girl was an only child and had never had to share a room with anyone before she had started at Hogwart, now that she was in her second year she had got used to it and actually appreciated it more than she could have ever imagined. She liked the girls in her dormitory. They had become friends by now. Spending time with them was great and, truth be told, Trudy believed that her Hogwarts years were likely going to be the best years of her life.

When she had looked out of the window during Charms class she realised that the weather was magnificent and had asked Shelby if she, too, wanted to go out to the lake after class to enjoy the sun for a while. She was glad that her friend agreed and the two girls had walked through the grounds chatting animatedly about their classmates, the homework they had been assigned and the adorable mooncalf babies.

They were so busy chatting that they were entirely oblivious that the wind was getting stronger. Soon enough, however, they had almost reached the lake, a dark cloud concealed the sun and suddenly the grounds were not sunlit anymore. A few first thick drops of rain fell and one of them hit Trudy’s nose. The girl used her sleeve to wipe it off but as she did so, heavy rain already started.

“Oh no!” Trudy exclaimed, disappointment audible in her voice. “Let’s run to the greenhouses,” she suggested, thinking that they’d be soaked if they tried to get back to the castle. The greenhouses were closer and they could wait until the rain would lessen there.

@Shelby Trickett

She was warming up to Trudy, Shelby was. She was warming up to all the Ravenclaw girls, really, despite the terrible adverse obstacle of them all being so blonde and pale and making Shelby feel unreasonable in their presence. But since the kiss in February, Shelby had been retreating to her roommates, who almost all welcomed her into the fold with open arms.

Finally, Maria had said when Shelby finally joined them to braid hair in the bathroom. Shelby wondered if they had been waiting for her to become One of Them, a Real Ravenclaw girl. Or if they thought something else, and that she would of course want to join them there.

But, Maria taught her how to French braid, so.

Trudy was spontaneous, but not in a scary way the way Tomie and the Gryffindors tended to be. It was nice to just take off with her after class, running for the lake and just talking. No need to do a flip or prove herself, no need to pretend to know about Quidditch when she would rather talk about stars and mooncalves and different perspectives on the development of Charms through time.

"I just think, since Io took so long to come to term, her babies must be bigger than the other calves, right?" Shelby was saying, curling up under her light spring cloak. Trudy didn't respond right away, which had Shelby rather put out until a fat droplet of water splashed on her forehead. "Oh," she said, crossing her eyes to see the water drip down the side of her nose. It was raining. Interesting. She pulled her bag up onto her lap and then in front of her when she stood up, glancing at the suddenly dark sky. "Yes, let's," Shelby agreed, resisting the Tomie-like urge to add race you there!

She took off at a brisk pace, only getting a little bit of mud splashed onto her stockings. "Hurry!" she called back to Trudy, long legs carrying her further faster. The rain was coming in harder and faster too -- if only they had a boat! When she reached the greenhouse, Shelby yanked the door open for Trudy to come in behind her. Her cloak was soaking through -- surely Trudy's was too.

They hurried to the greenhouses as the rain got stronger but, despite Trudy’s initial disappointment, she didn’t mind this change of plan too much. The most important thing was that she got to hang out with a friend. It didn’t matter if they sat by the lake in the sun or if they seeked shelter in the greenhouses. They were still spending time together.

Shelby made it to the entrance a little faster than Trudy. The girl went in behind Shelby and looked around. Were they alone? At least in their immediate surroundings there were only plants. Trudy tried to use her sleeve to dry her face but since the sleeve was soaked, she didn’t get very far.

She was just about to ask Shelby if she could perform a drying charm when she heard some noise from further inside the greenhouse. Her eyes widened and she signaled Shelby to be quiet as she sneaked further inside to find out what was going on there.

Her mouth opened in disbelief and she turned to catch her friend’s eyes. A grin spread across her face as she whispered, “I didn’t expect that at all.” There was a boy sitting on the ground, hugging a potted plant and confiding in the plant that he loved it. Trudy wondered if he was really in love with a plant - which would be quite strange - or if he was practising to confess his love to a girl or boy at school - which, in Trudy’s opinion, was rather embarrassing, too.