I'M NOT SHORT!
There once was a boy named Bdubs.
The end....
Ha!
Jokes on you :D
Bdubs was a proud Clocker (don’t leave the ‘l’ out Scar, please). He and his family were revered when it came to time. They took pride in their magic and craftsmanship, rightfully so as they were the only people in the entire world who were able to make time turners. It was a mystery that was passed down generations and soon Bdubs would gain excess to it. He just needed to finish Hogwarts first.
He was a proud Clocker, he knew time when he saw it which also meant that he knew when something was wrong. It was not really significant at first, more a nuisance. I made him unable to sleep at his normal time and wake up later than he was supposed to. But he managed, it was only an hour anyway.
Until it was not.
Somehow somebody had messed with the time of Hogwarts and it was beginning to mess him up. Because how could he sleep if the sun still shined high and bright? And how could he wake up if the moon still basked the castle in its white glow?
He knew something was up, which is why he checked his own clock; a gift from his great grandmother before she passed away. It contained his very own time turner and always showed the right time, no matter what enchantments someone put on it.
And he was right, of course he was, he was rarely wrong. His clock said seven o’clock, while the Hogwarts clock on his right told him that it was nine o’clock. It did not make sense at all. How could the clocks as powerful as Hogwarts’s be messed with?
He could tell a professor, but maybe he could fix the clocks himself. He was a Clocker after all!
That is the reason why Bdubs began reading as much as possible about magical clocks in How To Time Your Time (written by his grandfather Jeromy Clock) and about the clocks of Hogwarts in Hogwarts; a mystery.
But that journey is not relevant for us right now, as you might have seen by the title of the chapter. What’s more relevant is the meeting of a certain fifth year Gryffindor.
It happened, as usual, during one of the game nights. Pre study group.
Bdubs had been admiring the pinball machine Joe made. He had seen a few in his short time on earth, his mother was a muggleborn witch that had shown Bdubs all the bibs and bobs that came with the muggleworld.
But that was when one Etho Slab bumped into his life. Literally.
As I said, Bdubs had been admiring Joe’s pinball machine when the albino Canadian tripped over his own feet and knocked the poor first year, that was Bdubs, down.
“Oh snappers, sorry dude,” he said as he held a hand for Bdubs to pull himself up to. “No worries man!” Bdubs responded as he dusted himself off with his hands despite the no-dust enchantment Xisuma put in place to keep the room clean.
“Ahhh, no wonder I tripped over you,” the Canadian said with a grin as he looked down on Bdubs, “You’re so short.”
“HEY, I’M NOT SHORT!” the younger and shorter exclaimed furiously. “I’m still growing, thank you very much!” But all Etho did was ruffle his hair, messing it up.
While it was true that Bdubs was on the short side for a first year, Etho was also extremely tall and lanky for his age, easily towering over all of his friends but Skizz. The Hufflepuff was literally a giant.
That was not the last time he saw Etho. Suddenly the man seemed to be everywhere; in the hallways, in the libraries, even in the newly founded study group Xisuma made! And here is the worst part, everytime Bdubs would see him he would get called shortie.
It made him grumpy.
From the other side, he did start to enjoy hanging around with Etho. The man was good company and was really interesting to listen to.
He had noticed that Etho was not really a talkative person from the game nights and the study group, but for some reason Etho felt comfortable enough to talk to him, lots. It made Bdubs feel warm and fuzzy inside, it made him honoured even if he did not understand half the stuff he was telling him.
But that did not matter, because Bdubs had a good friend now and he was not going to let go of him that easily!