Chalkdust in the air (( Niki))

[julia]

*cough, cough* Emily pounded the two erasers together with a fury that could not be matched. Detention was terrible, and she honestly could not believe that Snape had given her such a horrible task to do. It could be worst, but she thought he would at least come up with something more creative. Sniffling, she looked down at the box that sat at her feet and saw that it was empty. Snape had said she could go when the box was empty. Looking around, she did not see him in the room. Taking that as her cue, she grabbed her bag and left the room.

Wiping the white dust off her hands as she walked down the hall, she cursed the man under her breath. She honestly hadn't done anything that bad. That snot nosed Slytherin had it coming, and it was only one dungbomb in his cauldron. The sight of three slytherins being covered with green goo in her mind made her chuckle to herself.

Looking around, she spotted a restroom. Rushing in, she turned on the tap and began to scrub her hands vigorously. The grime of the chalk dust made her feel dirty, and she hated to feel dirty.

[niki]

Niki had just left the owlery. She didn't understand why Helen had not responded to her letter. Sure, it hadn't said the most comforting things in the world, but it was true none the less. Niki had only wanted to know about her father. Was that too much to ask? She didn't think so at all. Niki had gone to the owlery to see if the school owl she had chosen was back. He was, but there was no sign of a return letter. Niki could think of why Helen wouldn't respond so quickly. She had after all dropped a bomb of information on her aunt's pride. Niki knew Helen never talked about it, but she longed to know something about him. She would actually like to know anything about him. She knew however that Helen wouldn't let out a word unless she had to. Niki decided to just let it go. She wasn't really upset just curious. She decided that Helen will tell her when she tells her.

Niki made her way through the halls. She wanted to find a bathroom. She had after all just been in the owlery and Niki wanted to get the germs and things off her. She didn’t wan to get sick and she knew the owls might have germs. Niki turned into the nearest bathroom. She spotted a girl washing her hands she didn’t know. Niki first pushed her brown hair out of them way and walked to a sink. The girl seemed to be in her year, but another house. The girl looked like she had chalk dust on her hands. Niki knew the girl wouldn’t put it there so it had to be a punishment. She could only think of one teacher who would do such a thing. “Snape got to you, huh?” She said with a funny smile on her face. Niki then started to wash her own hands. “That guy can be pretty cruel.” She said. Niki then decided to introduce herself. “Oh, yea forgot.” She giggled. “Niki Varasoe, Hufflepuff sixth year.” She said calmly. Niki continued to wash her hands as she waited for a response.

[julia]

Emily scrubbed her hands a few more moments before addressing the girl. " Yeah, it was Snape. How could you guess?" Pulling a paper towel out of the dispenser, she dried her hands against the course brown paper. Emily introduced herself to the girl. " Emily Wade, Gryffindor Sixth year. I thought I recognized you. We would of been sorted together. In fact, I think you were sorted right before me. I don't remember much from the ceremony. I was so scared. My knees kept shaking, and I was horrified over the thought that maybe the hat would not pick me for nay house."

Emily tossed the paper towel toward the wastebasket, missed, and then retrieved it from the floor. Bending over, she chuckled about her punishment. " I'm actually lucky. This is my last detention with the man. For my last one, he made me cut up salamander tails for hours. Those get kind of gross after a while." Walking towards the door, she watched as large groups of students made their way from the Great Hall. " Well, seems I've missed dinner. Would you like to join me in the kitchens for a quick bite to eat?"

[niki]

"He's the only teacher that seems obsessed with chalk dust." Niki laughed a bit. "I'm not really a rule breaker, but I have had detention multiple times for stupid reasons like I stood up or something." She shrugged and looked at the girl's hands. The chalk dust look so gross and Niki hated it because it usually made her sneeze for a long time. Niki heard the name and it seemed sort of familiar. She listened to the girl's comment. "Oh, yea. That seems right." She paused thinking back to that day. "I remember that day, Helen thought I was going to be in Ravenclaw, but I knew I was a Huffie." She laughed. "I might make good marks, but I'm not a study wiz or anything." She laughed for a second and remembered when she learned about Hogwarts. That day, her aunt gave her a book about it and Niki read all of it that very day. She read the part about each house very carefully and tried to pick out which house she would be in. Niki knew it would be Slytherin because she wasn't a pure-blood and she wasn't brave so that ruled out Gryffindor. That gave her Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Niki decided she would be happy with either and had a nice time the day she was sorted.

Niki listened to her comment. "That sounds gross." She commented. Niki shaked just thinking about it. She then listened to Emily. "Yea, sure. I'm hungry. See if we were sorted into Slytherin, we would never go to where the house-elves are. What do they do when they are hungry and missed meals? Starve?" Niki giggled thinking about the sad little Slythies having too much pride and starving. Niki then left the room and headed to the kitchens. She looked back at Emily as she walked. Niki heard her stomach growl. "Hmmm, I hope they have good food." She said smiling as she continued to walk.