Did You See That? PV Nellie Lam Finished

The young boy listened to Nellie clarify what university was. It sounded really boring and dreadful to him. You have to do more school even after you are an adult? To him it seemed the muggle education system might be broken. But what did he know, he was just an 11 year old that didn’t want to do grown up school.

He glanced over to Nellie as they walked. She still looked a little cold, but the shiver in her voice was gone so maybe that was just his imagination. They walked a little further along the lake and Dennis was really happy that it seemed Nellie relaxed about her muggle past. He did get the feeling that muggles were still condescended at Hogwarts. That was something his parents warned him about - most wizards didn’t understand they were living in the past and it was slowing their progress as a people. Something about demikrateezshion of magic would bring muggles and wizard folk together.

These were all very mature things for a child to be talking about but his parents, again, dedicated themselves to the task. “I actually quite like quills. Especially since we can erase the mistakes. That’s the kind of coexistence that would be super useful in the muggle world!” There he was going on again, but a salve that could erase ink and then dry would be gangbusters in the wider world.

He wanted to turn his attention back to Nellie, he felt like he had been talking a lot or thinking a lot. He continued walking beside Nellie, never really noticing they were slowly inching their way closer together the more comfortable they got. “You mentioned something really scary a moment ago,” said Dennis, his voice softer and filled with compassion. “You said your parents’ family cut them off because they were squibs?”

Thinking of himself and never seeing Lizzy or Seamus ever again sent a shiver down his spin just because he couldn’t use magic. A reality that went against every fiber of his being. “Why would they do that?” The question sounded more scared and desperate than Dennis meant it too, unable to keep his own thoughts from interrupting their conversation. “I mean…if it were true that I was a squib…I can’t even imagine being without my family.”

Winter sucked. It was simply a fact in the young Hufflepuff's mind. Sure, snow was pretty. It was also wet and cold. Playing in the stuff always meant a full half hour trying to warm up after, if not more. She was still cold, but her cheeks were shielded, now, as were her ears. Her voice was more even, though she had to keep spitting out scarf fuzz. The girl refused to complain though. She was having a nice time with Dennis, despite the cold. And she was warmer now, despite the fuzz. In fact, they were trade offs that she was happy to make.

The talk of quills had her shrugging. "Pens are more portable. And less chance of spilling the ink everywhere." Sure, pens exploded, but not with nearly the frequency of spilled ink wells. In any case, her mind drifted once more to her gradparents. Could the worlds ever successfully coexist? She somehow doubted it. "It would be good if they could learn from each other." Her smile matched Dennis's. Even if she didn't fully buy into the idea, she appreciated his enthusiasm.

When the conversation turned to her gradparents, following her own thoughts, she nodded. "Yeah, they did. My parents come from long lines of wizards, but I don't think they're quite pure. I'm not sure. But, they were considered not part of the family because they couldn't do magic." She shrugged. The politics of it all were quite above her. She couldn't yet understand the pride of wizard families steeped in tradition and predjudice. "They've reached out to me, now that they know I'm a witch. I sent some owls back and forth, but..." She trailed off, not sure she even knew her full mind on it all, let alone how to explain it. But for the moment, as they discussed her family, she forgot their original purpose of going to the lake.

Dennis nodded as Nellie explained why she prefers pens. According to her history, this really made sense to him. She didn’t grow up with quills and it is an antiquated technology, so it made sense she found it less convenient than new tech like a pen. Not a point Dennis planned to argue about but it was interesting to the boy that people could have two different opinions on something as simple as a writing instrument.

“I think my parents are hopeful that the messiness of living together is better than how life is now,” Dennis said thoughtfully looking at the tree line, squinting as the sun’s rays bounced off the frozen lake. Still not forgetting why he was there. What would they see.

“I’m sorry to hear about your family. That sounds scary,” Dennis replied, he made eye contact and his eyes were sad. An 11 year old boy would not know to hide his pity or even that one should. He just felt really bad for Nellie and her parents. No cousins, no aunties and uncles to spoil her. He didn’t feel like they were all that similar anymore. People have their own families and they aren’t always happy. Dennis’ awareness of other people matured that day.

Dennis scratched his neck as he looked once more over the lake. Something caught his eye again but this time much closer. Stags? Maybe not. “Nellie, look! What are those!? Do you see that?” Dennis pointed ahead of them along the tree line. Maybe Nellie could clarify.

Nellie nodded. Of course coexistance would be the way to go. If it was achievable, though? Nellie wasn't sure. "Yeah. I think they're definitely right." Watching him look out over the frozen lake, she remembered the real reason they were there and turned back to scan the lake as well.

She wasn't looking at him when he extended his pity. She missed the look in his eye. Thinking she spotted something, she squinted. Nope. Someone had built a snowman. She'd point it out to Dennis. "Snowman, not creature." Looking elsewhere, she shrugged over his words. "I mean, I don't really think it's scary. I had both my parents. They love me. I have my brother and sister." Turning her head his direction finally, she saw the pity in his eyes and chuckled. "Nothing to feel bad about. Can't miss what I never had."

Thankfully though, the conversation turned from Nellie's family to the creatures near the lake. Dennis was asking the one that was nearly blind without her glasses what the creature across the lake was. "I... think... Ugh.." She really hated her eyes. "Maybe Qilin? Or... centaurs? I don't know if Qilin are even in this area. Centaurs might be, though." She was frustrated by not being able to see them clearer. "Think we can get closer? I can't really see them that well." If this turned out to actually be deer, Nellie was going to be annoyed, though not at Dennis.

Dennis grew increasingly concerned for his friend. Could she even see at all? She mistook several snowmen for some kind of creature. They met in the library but he didn’t seem to recall her actually reading anything in the books verbatim. Maybe she was just really convincing as a blind person. Girls are really cute, especially Nellie, Dennis thought, but boy could they not see very well. All girls are the same, of course.

“Yes, that’s a snowman, Nellie,” Dennis said and then with a cheeky little smile, “Would you like to build one?” Somehow this kid saw Frozen but not the Little Mermaid. It was a tease, though, he now knew how cold the winters make her. She must not be from the north she seemed to be a girl of very little fortitude. In this he knew not all girls were the same.

When she finally saw the right creature he was pointing at and not a random child or their snowman, Nellie caught on straight away. One of her guesses apart from that of snowman was a centaur. They drew nearer to it and as the figure came into focus, it was indeed a centaur! They were really far away from the forest’s edge, first years not being allowed anywhere near it, of course. But they were now close enough that Dennis and maybe his blind friend could even see it.

“Wow. Have you ever seen a centaur before?” He said, his voice filled with awe and amazement. He knew enough not to get too close but he really wanted a better look. The centaur appeared as if it was scouting the edge of the forest, perhaps keeping his eye on wayward students that might be much closer than they were. “Do they wear seashell shirts in muggle legends too?” He really couldn’t help himself at this point.

Nellie laughed at the reference and rolled her eyes. "You've seen Frozen but not The Little Mermaid? Seriously?" It seemed she was on his same wave length. Of course, it was also entirely possible that he was asking a genuine question. "But maybe." She might have hated the cold, but she was still a kid. Who could say no to that? Unless your name happened to be Elsa.

As the creature came into focus, Nellie's eyes grew wide in surprise and excitement. In her excitement, and before she realized what she was doing, she reached out to grab Dennis's arm. Immediately after, she realized what she'd done, blushed, and dropped her hand. Now feeling properly embarrassed, she shook her head. "This is a first." As they watched, the centaur seemed to survey the area. The question Dennis posed earned an amused eyeroll. "The ones that have boobs do." As much as the words pained her to speak outloud, she kind of wanted to see if she could turn the tease back on the boy. She would even stick her tongue out at him for good measure.

Whatever his response, however, Nellie's attention would return to the centaur. "This is so cool." She could have sworn they looked in the children's direction and offered them a nod. Then they turned and slipped back into the forest from whence they'd come. Nellie's attention would then shift to her companion with an excited look on her face. "I can't believe that just happened!" Gone was the awkwardness from a few moments ago.

Dennis didn’t really hear the question about the Little Mermaid. Though if he had, his answer would be that he doesn’t watch old movies - ignoring the live action remake that came out. Frozen and Moana are his favorites. This was not really the point. The point was right there along the edge of the forest: the centaur. He was so awesome.

Dennis felt a squeeze on his arm. Nellie was holding his arm and shaking it a little. He felt warm and, equally without thinking, put his hand to rest on hers as she shook him but no sooner had he put his hand on top of hers, she suddenly dropped it. He looked over and saw that she shied away. Oh, Dennis thought coming to his sense, cooties! Now feeling equally awkward, he recovered by rubbing his arm slowly where she had touched him as if he was just getting rid of an itch. Yeah…cooties itch, right?

She brought his attention back when he heard ‘boobs.’ This automatically triggered his snort reflex. Heh…she said boobs. He completely missed what she actually said, to focused on slowly rubbing the cooties off. It made him pause again, wouldn’t rubbing just dig them in? He should take a bath after this just to make sure.

The centaur turned around to head back. “So cool. Do you think we will get to see him again?” Dennis asked as the centaur departed back into the shadow of the forest. It was getting close to supper time and they still had to walk back. “I didn’t think we would actually get to see anything out here! It was so cold and snowy. I wonder if the others saw him too!” He said turning to head back toward the castle.

Had Dennis really laid his hand on hers? Did that count as holding hands? If so, that was the first time she'd ever held hands with anyone. Oh my God. Did he like her? Did she like him? All of these questions rushed through her mind in the span of five seconds. At the exact same time, her cheeks developed a deep shade of crimson hue.

Already feeling awkward, she didn't say anything more regarding the boobs, lest she simply melt into the floor from embarrassment. In order to save herself, she focused on the centuar as her turned to head back into the forest. By the time Dennis turned his attention back to her, her blush had begun to fade, though it was certainly not entirely gone. "Probably. I mean, maybe not that one, but I imagine that we'll see all kinds of things while we're at Hogwarts. And we've just started!" There was a paused as she considered all of the other things that she hoped they'd see in their time at school. There were so many creatures, some of which she didn't even know existed yet. That thought was thrilling.

She continued chatting like that as they made their way back inside. She speculated about other creatures that they mind find on or around the grounds of Hogwarts. This time, however, she would avoid mention of mermaids or boobs.