Tamed

Chapter 7.Flirty Greene

"So you are from Beauxbatons?" Joseph asked Natalie who was sitting across from him, at the big Mahogany desk lying at the center of the study hall.

"Yup Beauxbatons Academy of Magic" she said, turning the page of the big reference book which she was currently reading.

"So are you a Veela?" he asked. Natalie noticed that he kept shaking his right leg all through their conversation which had started to irritate the hell out of her.

"No!" she said stifling the urge to roll her eyes "You seriously think all girls that go to Beauxbatons are Veelas?" she snorted. Joseph rubbed the back of his neck, flashing a grin. Even the tips of his ears were turning red.

"But I guess some people don't need to be Veelas to look beautiful" he said, his cheeks flushing. "You truly are charming you know?" he added.

"Thank you Greene" she said faking a smile when her mind was silently yelling at him oh please! you seriously think I'd fall for that!?

"Greene? Call me Joseph, Joe, Jos, Joey.. anything" he suggested "We are friends , roomies" he added.

"Sure Joseph" Natalie nodded "we have an exam tomorrow right? so if you don't mind..." Joseph cut her off mid sentence "Speaking of exams. Did they seriously ask that essay on Ilfracombe incident today? They completely caught me off guard. How can they expect us to elaborate every minute detail of an incident which took place centuries ago when we didn't even exist?"

Centuries ago? It was in 1932!!!! and that's why we read books, you dimwit! She felt like throttling him for being so dumb. His words in her ears were like nails scratching against the wall. If she was asked how annoying this conversation was getting, on a scale of one to ten, she would definitely have marked a hundred.

"I really should return to studying Joseph" she said and resumed reading the book and taking down points on a piece of parchment.

Joseph grabbed a random book lying in front of him and pretended to read it, but his mind was too busy framing potential topics for conversation.

"Oh is that a Catalonian Fireball?" he asked craning his neck forward to get a better look at the picture of the dragon at the top right corner of the page she was currently reading.

"Yyes" she said hesitantly, praying that he wouldn't follow up this conversation. But she couldn't be more wrong

"Man!! I have seen those. In fact I had been this close to that bloody beast once when I went to the Swedish Reserve with my dad, that I got this as a memento" he said rolling the sleeve up his left arm and showing a dark brown patch on his upper arm which Natalie assumed to be a burn mark "It actually goes up to the shoulder, you want to see?" he tried to roll up his sleeve further.

"It's fine..Fine actually . You don't need to show me. I understand how painful it would have been" she said gritting her teeth together, all the while faking a sympathetic smile.

"Oh boy it was painful! But I tend to think of it as a mark of bravery?" he said with an air of pride

Mark of stupidity you mean, she said to herself. Who would stand so close to a vicious creature without any safeguard? Natalie desperately wanted him to leave. Her eyes scanned the room looking for a possible distraction which would lead him away from her. She saw Jason and Boon looking at her and Joseph whispering something to each other "I think your friends need your help with the studies" she said hoping that her idea would work.

"Yeah, you are right" he sighed "Guess I should go. What would they do without me?" he said, smiling to himself. As he got up from his seat he said "you know, we should catch up more often"

"Sure we will" she lied "but after the exams" she said and quickly dropped her gaze on the book.

"What a show off!" a familiar voice spoke beside her. She looked on her left to see Marshall taking a seat next to her, a book clutched in his hand, which he dropped on the dusk with a thud.

"Who do you think paid him to distract me? Gilbert or Weasley?"

"Neither" he said, opening the book and removing the book mark.

"What do you mean neither?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What? are you blind? He wasn't distracting you! He was totally flirting with you!!" Marshall said, rolling his eyes. "were you oblivious of the very fact that he was trying to hit on you? Don't tell me!"

"No. He wasn't!" Natalie protested in a squeaky voice.

"Trust me, he was" Marshall assured her, flashing a broad grin.

"Oh really? How do you know for sure?" she asked.

"What? I am a guy. I know how a guy's mind works" he snorted.

"Oh, so there is some kinda telepathic connection between you all?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah. We can sniff it out of each other. Just like that. It's like it is embedded in us at the time of manufacture" he chuckled. "Anyway I don't think you have to worry about it. He's harmless"

"But highly irritating, I tell you" she scowled, not even daring to look at the table opposite to them where Joseph was seated with his friends, fearing that he might come back if he caught her eye. "He thinks the Ilfracombe incident took place centuries ago!! Can you believe it?"

"What a loggerhead! That was the easiest and the most direct question they could have ever asked" he said, shaking his head. "Anyway I talked to trainer Maxwell and he said tomorrow's test would be different than the previous two written tests. Tomorrow they might even ask us to identify the dragon by its sound or something like that. No one actually knows what it is going to be" he shrugged.

"I am more worried about the afternoon session. I wasn't very good at potions back in the school days. I hardly managed to score E. And for tomorrow's test we have to brew potions for healing different dragon wounds. What on earth am I going to do Marshall??!!!" she asked, tightly clasping his right arm with both her hands.

"Will you relax Nat? It won't be that hard" he assured her.

"Easy for you to say, nerd!" she pouted, making Marshall laugh out loud.

"And I gotta excel in all these tests. I don't want to leave this institute just because of that stupid Challenge! I have to beat that ginger head at any cost" she said, intertwining her fingers together.

"Don't you worry child. Always remember that no one is better than the other. Everyone is best in their own way. So you focus on your work without thinking about anything else or anyone else" he said, trying to remove the hood which was covering her head.

"No! Don't" she protested.

"Why do you like to keep your hair always covered? You have nice hair!"

"Long hair makes me look too girly and I don't like to let it down constantly reminding myself that I am a girl"

"Then why don't you just cut it short?" he suggested with a shrug.

"Because I love my hair!!"

"I don't understand your self-contradictory statements" he said, rolling his eyes and got back to reading.

"yeah. Study. Talking about my hair won't do any good. They are not going to ask what colour is Natalie Scott's hair or how long it measures"

"Sssshhhh" Marshall said, placing his index finger on his lips and pointed at her book, gesturing her to study.

"Sorry sir" she muttered, sealing her lips, grabbed the quill and resumed writing.