Chapter 3
- Miss Shalifoe, I’m afraid I’m forced to strike hard this time, said Mrs Mc Gonagall in her usual detached, cool tone. This is far from the first time you find yourself sat in my office, is it ? Very late in the evening, at that.
Toni gulped, her hands on her knees, waiting for the sentence to fall. She was trying very hard to sit still, sit straight : she was notoriously known for her unusual ways with chairs.
- This is not an easy decision, but I will have to remove you from the Quidditch team, finally said Mc Gonagall.
Toni felt her heart drop in her chest, leaving a hole where it was supposed to be, quickly filling up with a dark, stifling liquid. Against her own will, her eyes overflowed with tears as she felt something break inside her.
- Mrs Mc Gonagall, I’m begging you, please do not take Quidditch from me. It’s the one thing I’m good at.
Her voice was trembling with despair, and she hated how vulnerable she sounded, but she was too tired to fight it, and she hoped, secretly, that the old witch would be sensitive to her distress. After all, she was the one who pushed her to join the Quidditch team as a second year, after seeing her play with a basketball. She even raised funds to buy Toni her own broom, a pretty good one she could never had afforded on her own.
- You should have thought about that before dueling with Miss Jadmani in the Forbidden Forest.
- Please ! I’m sorry ! You know the team needs me. I’ll accept any other punishment !
Toni blessed the gods nobody else was there to hear her, because she was demonstrating a total lack of dignity and pride. But she knew that Mc Gonagall was particularly involved in Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, and very much enjoyed her House winning the Inter-house Quidditch cup. Toni was a talented Chaser, quick, nimble, bold, and she knew Mc Gonagall couldn’t possibly find a replacement at her level before the upcoming match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Come on, thought Toni, you don’t want to lose face in front of Snape, do you ?
Mc Gonagall paused to think. Toni, on the edge of her seat, was quivering with hope.
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- You what ? , exclaimed Dot, gaping at her.
They were alone in their dorm, relaxing on Toni’s bed. Sometimes the Common room was too loud and they preferred the calm upstairs.
Toni enjoyed the incredulous expression on Dot’s face. It was quite rare to see her blasé facade crack.
- I’m dueling with Fatin tonight, she repeated with calculated nonchalance.
Dot raised her eyebrows so high Toni actually thought they might detach from her face and ascend above her head. It was quite funny, and she once again regretted that her smartphone was basically useless on Hogwart’s grounds, because her expression was meme-worthy and thus deserved to be immortalized. She wondered how much those Wizard cameras she had seen a few students carrying during their outings in Hogsmead cost and then started to muse on a few memes ideas Dot’s eyebrows had elicited in her mind.
- Can you explain how that happened ?, asked Dot, seeing her friend wasn’t elaborating further. What did Fatin do to threaten your honnor ?
- Nothing in particular, lied Toni, suddenly absorbed by the contemplation of her nails. We just thought it’d be fun.
Dot narrowed her eyes at her and took that « no bullshit with me » expression Toni had come to fear.
- You’re terrible liar Toni. You barely know her. She provoked you in some way and your stupid ass charged like a bull, is that right ?
- It’s not my fault, I’m an Aries, whined Toni.
- Ah, because everyone born in march is a dumbass like you. You know your star sign doesn’t absolve you of your bad decisions, right ? You’re still responsible for your actions.
- You’re such a Capricorn. Responsibility makes you horny, mocked Toni with a jeering smile.
Last year, Martha discovered a sudden passion for astrology. Initially, Toni kept making fun of her, but after her best friend read her natal chart, which was surprisingly accurate, she got somewhat curious and let Martha teach her a few things about the signs and the planets. (Shelby was a Scorpio, which explained why she was an asshole, but Toni hadn’t been able to figure out her time and place of birth, which meant she didn’t know her rising, her moon, and the rest of her chart. Just curiosity, of course. Know your friends, know your ennemies better, wasn’t that a saying ?)
- God, Martha should never have taught you this bullshit. I’m too tired for this. Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. Just be careful, okay ?
Dot knew her well enough to understand it was useless to try to change her mind. Her friend was a stubborn creature. But as soon as Dot went back to her book about survival in the wild (a captivating read), Toni started shuffling on the bed and finally blurted out :
- She said I had a crush on Shelby Goodkind.
- Ah.
- She’s obviously delusional but I had to shut her up before she goes on spreading false rumors.
- Okay, simply said Dot, her eyes still on her book.
Toni shuffled some more next to her, her preoccupation palpable.
- Why do you think she’d say that ? It doesn’t look like I have a… Because you know that’s false, right ?
Toni felt the beginning of a blush rise on her cheeks, but this time, she was able to effectively stop it from fully blossoming.
- Yeah, right. It’s just that you hate her really intensely. Sometimes you’re a bit…obsessed, I guess.
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Toni was briskly walking towards the Forbidden Forest, clad in her old leather jacket, angry thoughts spinning in her head. Obsessed ?? She wasn’t obsessed with Shelby fucking Goodkind !God, what was up with everyone ? First Fatin, then Dot ? She prayed that Martha wouldn’t jump on this ship too, because that would be a massive betrayal. She cursed herself for asking Dot the question, whose answer she had been ruminating for the last two hours. She hated Shelby. Shelby hated her. What was complicated about that ? Since they met that day in the train, she couldn’t stand her. There was just something about her that… infuriated her to no end. She internally listed all the reason why Shelby was unlikable and definitely not crush material : she was annoying, she tried too hard, she was a homophobe - Toni saw the way she averted her gaze when she was kissing Regan in the corridors, at the time they were still dating - , she was a hypocrite, she was a smug Slytherin, she acted like she was so much better than everybody, so much better than her, always putting up her little Miss Perfect act. She hated her stupid ponytail, her stupid green eyes, her stupid laugh and her stupid boyfriend… This didn’t mean she was obsessed with her. « I can’t wait to prove Fatin wrong », she said out loud in the cold air of the night, walking with renewed determination. The night sky was clear and beautiful, shining with countless tiny stars, but she didn’t pay it any attention.
- Hey Toni, sneered Fatin with a huge smile on her face. Are you ready to ask Shelby on a date ?
Tony glared at her. This whole date idea was insanely stupid. Even if it were to happen - which it won’t, obviously - Shelby was dating Andrew. Fatin’s goal was obviously to humiliate her.
- You ready to eat dirt ? Can’t wait to see you in full Lion attire, fired back Toni, drawing her wand.
- I get you, you know, Shelby’s really hot, added Fatin, wiggling her eyebrows. I’d know better than anyone, I’m sharing her dorm. I’ve seen her in her underwear plenty of times.
Toni felt a hot wave burn through her whole body. She blessed the dark which offered a benevolent cover for her scarlet cheeks. It was all from the anger, really, but Fatin wouldn’t get it.
- Did you just come here to talk or are we going to fight ?
They didn’t even get to fight. Hagrid, who was having trouble sleeping, chose this precise moment to take a nocturnal walk and spotted them just as they were about to start. And that’s how she ended up in Mrs Mc Gonagall’s office, feeling very dumb. Why was Dot always right ?
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- Alright, said Mc Gonagall after what seemed like hours in Toni’s mind. I can offer you something else.
- Yes please, eagerly answered Toni. Nothing could be worse than being removed from the Quidditch team, right ?
- You’re going to assist the Head Girl in all of her duties. The nightly patrols, of course, twice a week but also any other mission that might come up, helping with the first years, supervising their outings to Hogsmead, that kind of things. Can I count on you, Miss Shalifoe ? I expect you to train harder than ever in the Quidditch department as well.
- Yes, of course ! Thank you Mrs !, replied a relieved Toni.
This shouldn’t be too hard, boring yes, but she would be able to keep playing Quiddich, win the cup at the end of the year with her team.
And then the realization hit her like a wall of bricks : the Head Girl was no other than Shelby Goodkind, her nemesis she definitely wasn’t obsessed with.