Darwinism | hp

006: weird kid

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As it turned out, Theodore Nott and Mattheo Riddle didn't want to wait until Marilyn beat them at quidditch. Instead, they seemed rather offended she hadn't done more.

She had been very preoccupied with homework and impending Quidditch practice to pay them much mind, which seemed to annoy Nott in Potions that Friday. 

This caused him to seek her out on Saturday, when she was outside of the castle by the Black Lake, studying.

"Much studying today, Locke?" He questioned, sauntering over. 

"I'll put my wand through your eye socket, Nott." She glanced up at him. "Why're you going for me? You're not even in Malfoy's bully cult."

"Don't need to be in Malfoy's cult. And it's not bullying. Just . . . cleaning up." He snatched her binder from the spread of books in front of her. "God. Mattheo, look at this."

"It's not even that big of a deal." She looked back down at the notebook she was currently writing spells she wanted to learn in. Her binder just had her plans for however long she knew - birthdays, when her classes were, when homework was due, when she needed to eat since she always seemed to forget.

Riddle sniggered. "Looks like you forgot to eat on Monday - oh, wait -"

"Not a eating day." Nott sniggered. "Tuesday's the eating day, Mattheo, how could you be so stupid?"

"Right, of course. Forgot no one eats on Mondays."

This just confused her. She didn't understand how this was something to tease her about. was there something weird about it? 

Now that she thought about it, her older brother used to pick on her for the same reason. Apparently her organization was over the top. Was it? Was she really, actually weird for wanting to remember to eat? She didn't understand why it was weird to want to remember.

She was just glad she didn't write down her toilet schedule. That stayed the same since before coming to Hogwarts, so she didn't need to remember it in a book. Once in the morning, once after lunch, and then twice again before bed to make sure she didn't wake up at 2 am and need to pee.

"Do you not forget to eat?" She stupidly asked, cursing herself the second she said it.

"No, Locke, most of us are human." Nott's voice was very deep, now, no sound of humour within.

She stood, dusting sand off her skirt. "Can I have the book?"

"Oh, you want it back?" He thought for a moment. "I wonder what would happen if you didn't have it."

"I don't know. Give it to me." She held out her hand.

"You know, you get special treatment." Nott glanced down the river bank, to where Ernie was chasing butterflies. "Have since before you even got here."

She shrugged. "Give it back."

"Come and get it." He took a step away from her, and handed the binder to Riddle. "Just . . . come over and take it."

She was beyond confused, and it was making her feel stupid. It felt like there was something here she was missing, something they could see she couldn't. She felt a sick feeling in her stomach. What was it? She wasn't weird, she wasn't weird.

"Locke, it's not that hard." Riddle was saying. "We're just not walking over to you. Here." He held it out to her, casually as if he hadn't just been laughing at what she wrote, but she'd still have to walk over to get it. "Just take it."

She felt her heart rate increase, as anxiety bubbled in her stomach. What did they know? What was she missing?

"Just pu-" She started.