Another cold February evening—and Zel was thankful that the common room was nice and toasty warm. Still, it was never pleasant for him to crawl through the little tunnel that reached the dorms—he wondered if accommodations would be made if he somehow out grew it? The last time he had measured himself, he was 6’7 in height—but his clothes were starting to feel just a little bit short. Not short enough to be uncomfortable. He doubted people would notice unless they were strictly looking for it.

He sat down on one of the cushy chairs and put his bookbag on the floor next to him. Sitting across from him was Belle Hatter—she had always been quiet, soft-spoken and kind. Still, after six years of knowing her, Zel always found it awkward to initiate conversation. That wasn’t a surprise, as it had taken him until the last couple months to be comfortable starting conversation with Figaro—and they were roommates!

Zel began to rummage through his bag, and he pulled out some parchment, a textbook, and a quill. He propped the textbook on his knee and placed the piece of parchment over it—he knew he needed to send a letter back to his older sister—they had been in correspondence recently, and he missed her. However, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to say. So, he looked up at his housemate.

“Er… So…” He glanced around, “How… Are… You?”

Belle's head snapped up, surprise written all over her face. Had Zel just spoken? To her? Zel, like Belle, was quiet, and didn't speak up much. In fact, she had a hard time remembering the last time she'd his voice. She was at a loss at what to say for a moment, her cheeks heating in embarrassment.

"Um... I'm.. I'm good." She whispered, absentmindedly twirling a lock of brown hair around her finger. It was a nervous habid, and she was never aware of doing it. She took a deep breath and sat up a bit, angling her body more towards him, though she remained curled up with her legs tucked under herself.

"Uh.. How are you?" Belle asked softly, offering him a small, soft smile.

She was good, that was good right? She seemed nervous to speak to him… But Zel was also nervous to speak to her! This struck him as a weird situation—both people being uncomfortable with social situations, and talking to each other. Zel found it easy to make friends with people who approached him first—people who were more sure and confident with themselves.

“I’m alright.” Zel said hesitantly, “I just took my first dose of wolfsbane for a week. Bleh.” He contorted his face up into a sour expression. Wolfsbane potion was nortoriously bitter and pungent. However, this was the price he had to pay to keep his mind and sanity every full moon. Zel knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hurt someone because of a careless mistake.

“So… School is good then?” Really, he didn’t know what to say. Initiating conversation was difficult, and maintaining it was equally challenging.

Wolfsbane. The word sent a wave of sympathy through her. But she knew that some people didn't like for others to pity them. Belle didn't know if Zel was one of those people, but she kept the feeling off her face anyway. Instead, she smiled.

"School is going well. No problems in class. Bullies give up after a few years of ignoring them." She smiled. Belle sat up a bit, giving him her full attention, "I'm sorry you have to take that horrible wolfsbane, even if it is a must. Is it as awful as it's said to be? You don't have to answer, your facial expression already did actually.."

She bit her lip, wondering if that was a topic he was alright with discussing, "So how is school going for you?"

Zel nodded.

He was never really bullied, though people have said cruel words, or done cruel things to him from time to time. He just did his best to avoid them. His nose scrunched up at the mention of wolfsbane again.

“It tastes like…” he shuddered, “It tastes like pure…. Oblivion. It’s sour, bitter, and just… Bleeech” Zel made a slight gagging noise. “I’m not allowed to sweeten it though. Sweetening it would make it taste so much better, but…” He frowned, “It keeps it from working.” He didn’t know  how his sister handled taking it for so long. He recalled the monthly battles for her to take it when she was young, just because the taste was awful. Then they became monthly battles for her to be allowed to take it. Which was illegal, and it had cost his family more than those punishments were worth.

“School is.. school.” He frowned. He was still having difficulties with Astronomy, and he felt like he may drop it next semester. It was too difficult at the NEWT level, and it was far too much to be on his plate. He thought that taking it would somehow help him understand moon patterns and lycanthrophy—but to no avail. Instead he left class bewildered, confused, and frustrated most of the time. 

Belle smiled, "You look like you have a little more thought to school than it just being school." She rested her elbow on the arm of the couch and propped her head on her palm, "Are you having trouble with anything? Perhaps I could help. I mean.. I can't promise anything, but.. maybe?"

She took note of the parchment in his lap. He was probably writing to family, which made Belle think of her mother. There was only one thing the Hufflepuff truly disliked about Hogwarts. She missed her mother terribly. During her first year at the school, Belle had cried herself to sleep every night because she was so homesick. She wondered if Zel had ever had that problem.

Even if they'd been housemates for six years, Belle still did not know a lot about Zel Trumble. He was like her, quiet.

Zel shifted awkwardly and looked at his feet. His shoes were starting to feel a bit tight, but they would stretch for hopefully a few more months. He wasn’t looking forward to having to buy new shoes. He’d go as long as he could—his brothers were making do, and they were growing faster than he was.

“Ah. Just… Y’know. NEWT classes.” They were much harder than any of the classes had been in the previous year. There were more breaks now than ever, but those breaks were meant to be filled with studying and completing assignments. Sixth year came with it’s fair amount of changes, and being a fairly new werewolf just served to make things more difficult, albeit interesting.

He looked up at Bella. “I dunno. Thinking about dropping astronomy. I thought that studying it would help me understand werewolves better but—“ So far he hadn’t learned anything that connected the two that he didn’t already know. “Besides, it’s just. I’ve never been good at it. It’s hard, because it’s not as interesting to me as other subjects.” Like Care of Magical Creatures. It was by far his best subject.