Bad Grades Closed

As far as Leonard knew, the toilets were supposed to be abandoned.

Of course, with a school as big as Hogwarts, he expected them to not be abandoned. And apparently, they very much weren’t.

Leonard hadn’t had much experience with people crying. Whenever that happened, it was either none of his business or his fault. The former had been unfortunately witnessed on awkwardly long rides in the London Underground from ages four to seven, and the latter usually happened when his cousins had lived with him. Look, if they were just going to leave their imaginary friends there, it’s not his fault that he sat on them.

This, however, was a bit of an enigma.

Leonard knew he should’ve kept on walking to the dorms. He’d already had somebody who hated him there, he didn’t need to make somebody else hate him here.

But according to the godawful, incredibly underbudgeted Public Service Announcement he’d viewed in Year One, he was supposed to ask what was wrong and give lollies and build a robot dog to comfort whomever it was that was sobbing their eyes out. Leonard didn’t know, really, he hadn’t paid much attention back then.

“Hello?” He called out, stopping just at the edge of the bathroom entrance. “You alright in there?”

Nell almost jumped hearing a voice. These toilets were not "abandoned" at all.

She wiped away her salty tears quickly and took a breath before responding.

"Yes, I'm quite alright," she lied.

Nell fixed herself up so she wouldn't look like she disappeared for thirty years then came back unexpectedly.

She walked out casually to see a boy with a Slytherin tie. He appeared as a first year, just as herself.

Nell was quite shy, but she decided to be a bit friendly.

"Nell. Nell Zoldak," she said, introducing herself. She held her pale, ink-stained hand out. This was a muggle thing, shaking hands, but it was the only greeting she knew.

The boy that stood before her had what looked like brown hair in the lighting they were in. She couldn't tell if the boy had green or brown eyes, but she decided not to ask. It would be awkward, she assumed.

"What's your name?" Nell asked the boy in a hushed tone. She had a strange feeling someone else was there, but she couldn't be too sure.

As she waited for the boy's response, she tried to look around discreetly, trying to notice anything moving about in the shadows.

Leonard shook her hand, doubting her words. He knew the looks of somebody who’d been crying, and she matched up to his mental portrait almost exactly. Though, it would be both rude and awkward to ask, and even if he’d been both in the short span of his time at Hogwarts, it wouldn’t be a terrible thing to not be rude and awkward for once.

“My name’s Leonard,” he said. “What happened to your hand?”

He asked it, hoping he wouldn’t come off as rude. It wasn’t rude, was it, to know why somebody had ink stains all over their hand? Leonard wouldn’t know, really. It wasn’t a very common situation, it being most people he knew until he’d arrived at the castle had used pens.

He noticed her eyes darting around the room. What was it? Was there a ghost floating behind him? Perhaps some insects had decided to come into the light?

No matter, this was a leap, really, to Number One. Plans, ghosts, and cockroaches be damned, just let him have this.

He fought the itch to look behind him as well. If there had been a cockroach crawling up his trousers, at least it would make for a funny story.

“My hands? Oh, I just like to write,” she answered. She noticed Leonard was watching her eyes dart around.

Nell stopped looking around for now, but still was weary of her surroundings. There was something about those shadows that just made her . . . well . . . let’s just say “quite uneasy.” Dementors were the first thing that came to mind, but . . . dementors? Inside this heavily protected castle? She wasn’t quite sure.

Nell also suspected it might be the Hogwarts ghosts. She had heard rumors of some ghosts that still inhabited the castle, but she had never seen one herself. She didn’t know if they gave off an eerie feeling like these shadows did, however.

Could it just be that Nell’s pesky and curious mind was playing a trick on her? Could it just be her odd imagination? She let it her mind wander on that, then realized she had been completely ignoring Leonard. Great impressions, Nell.

“Sorry about that,” she said awkwardly. Before he could answer Nell, however, Nell spoke again. “I gotta get to . . . um,” she paused, thinking of one of her classes quickly. “I gotta get to Charms class,” she lied. Nell had no conversation skills whatsoever, so she needed some excuse to leave. With that, Nell scurried away to . . . well . . . not Charms class anyway.