The Kind Hufflepuff

Chapter 21: Slugulus Erecto

---

The Kind Hufflepuff - First Year

Chapter Twenty One: Slugulus Erecto

---

Cali was skipping towards the library, a bright smile on her face as she hummed to the tune of "My Baby Gave Me a Hippogriff for Christmas" by Celestina Warbeck when she felt a stinging in the back of her head as somebody gripped onto her hair and pulled her backwards. She let out a yelp, tears coming to her eyes as she heard a burst of laughter. She craned her neck, seeing Wilkes with a nasty glare on his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He growled into her ear, keeping a firm grip on her hair that forced her to stay in her spot despite feeling some of her hair leave her scalp as her back arched rather weirdly, causing a small pinching pain in her back.

"I-I was just going to the library," Cali whimpered, wincing as he pulled on her hair a bit more.

"Singing that wretched song?"

"I-I'm sorry, I'll stop. I swear," Cali promised before Wilkes let go of her hair which caused the girl to crumple to the ground. He burst into laughter, watching as she fell to the ground and looked up at the boy while she scrambled onto her book, scared to get up from the floor.

"You're such a child, I swear," Wilkes growled, rolling his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Your parents will treat you better, I'm sure. I'm just thankful that my parents taught me right," This confused the girl, wondering what he meant before his face turned into a snarl before kicking the girl's arm. She howled in pain, her hand on her head moving to cradle her arm as he seemed triumphant.

"No wonder why you're not a Slytherin," Wilkes sneered, watching as the girl continued to lay on the ground with her eyes trained on him despite the pain that she was clearly feeling. He raised his wand once more and Cali quickly shut her eyes as the boy shouted, "SLUGULUS ERECTO."

Immediately, Cali felt something slimy was coming up her throat as an earthy taste filled her mouth before a slug exited her mouth, her eyes widened as she watched the creature start to escape as Wilkes quickly walked away, pretending as though he had done nothing in the first place. She sat there for a second, staring at his retreating back before she vomited another slug. Now that he was gone, she allowed herself to release a sob as she scrambled to her feet and began to walk to the hospital wing.

As she was walking, she would randomly stop to kneel down to the ground in order to vomit up another slug, leaving a disgusting trail of creatures in her wake until she heard, "CALI!" Her head snapped towards the sound, watching as James Potter walked up to the girl, a cocky smile on his face as he came to greet the girl before she vomited another slug on his shoes.

"I'm so sorry," Cali apologized, sniffling as she watched his cocky smile turn into one of disgust as he examined the slug that laid on his feet before he looked at her.

"Cali, what happened?" His voice seemed to be laced in concern which she appreciated since they weren't even that close as she felt the slug in her throat once more and quickly moved away from him so she could vomit once more.

"Did somebody perform a curse on you?" James asked, before noticing her bruised arm that the girl was cradling. He immediately went to grab for her arm, wanting to see if it was broken as she let out a whimper of pain. "Who did this to you?" Cali didn't answer this as she quietly allowed the boy to look at her arm, her eyes trained on the floor. James watched this, noticing how she made no move to explain anything as she vomited up another slug causing the boy to sigh, "Come on, we need to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

The two of them walked, only stopping whenever Cali threw up another slug as James had his arms wrapped around the girl, hoping to support the crying girl in anyway. Cali was thankful that they somehow hadn't come across anybody and that James didn't attempt to question her further about what had happened. Once they reach Madam Pomfrey, the woman took one look at the sickly looking Cali and understood that there had been another incident.

"Miss. Higgs, what happened dear?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am. I was walking down the hall when suddenly I started vomiting slugs," Cali explained as she clutched her arm.

"And what happened to your arm?"

"I fell down the stairs," Cali was reminded for a moment that this had been the same excuse that Remus had and wrote it off as she stared up at Madam Pomfrey, momentarily forgetting that James was sitting in the seat beside her bed.

"I don't know if this will be helpful and I don't know if this is related but Wilkes walked past me right before I ran into Cali," James mumbled, ruffling his hair as he explained the situation to Madam Pomfrey. The woman kept a close eye on the small girl, noticing how the girl had tensed upon hearing the Slytherin boy's name and sighed, finally figuring out the mystery that had been plaguing her for the past year.

"I'll have Professor Slughorn talk to Wilkes to see what he knows," Pomfrey reassured James as the boy nodded, tapping his foot against the ground as it became apparent that he wasn't sure what to do at this point.

"You don't have to stay with me," Cali mumbled to the boy once Pomfrey was finished giving the girl potions to heal her fractured arm and to stop her from vomiting slugs.

"Ok, but only so I can tell Sirius what happened. He would want to know." Cali nodded in understanding as James stood up and left the hospital wing, allowing Madam Pomfrey to take her opportunity to talk to the girl on a one-on-one basis.

"Was Gregory Wilkes the one that did this?" Cali didn't immediately answer, remembering the threats that he had given her in the past as the woman sighed. "He can't do anything to you, and he will be punished."

Cali wanted to believe Madam Pomfrey, the kind woman that had gotten her out of every situation with the Wilkes boy, so she closed her eyes as she slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, it's been him this entire time."

The news of this spread like wildfire and it wasn't long before Bertie Higgs ran into the hospital wings, his eyes furious when he caught sight of the girl that still laid on the bed. "It was a Slytherin who had been doing this?" Cali frowned before she nodded her head as the boy shook his head, sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want him to hurt me."

"He threatened you?"

Cali nodded her head as the boy grabbed the small girl's hand. "You should have told me. I would have made sure he never even dared to look at you once more."

"Then you would have become like him."

"He's a bully, I would have just been protecting my little sister."

"I didn't want you to get in trouble," Cali argued.

"It would have been worth it." Cali sighed, shaking her head.

"Just promise me... Promise me that you won't do anything. I've already told Madam Pomfrey, he's not going to mess with me again," Cali whispered softly.

Bertie clearly didn't want to abide by this problem, his eyes searching the girls before he groaned and nodded. "I won't do anything to him."

---

A/N: The ending of first year is coming close and honestly, I'm so excited to start second year. The past few chapters, I've been trying to drag the Marauders more into her story because they will become rather large characters in second year and I'm just so excited for you guys to read about Cali as she grows up.

I've slowly fallen in love with Cali as a character and I'm happy to see that some people are starting to appreciate her. I know that as of right now, she's just an eleven year old girl getting bullied but this chapter is the turning point for the girl. People now know who have been doing this and that's going to change things.