I am so excited today because I got my first follower for my story today! You're awesome Melstrife :) It might take me a little longer for the next chapter because I want to make it perfect for you guys. Don't forget to Review. And now, on with the book!
Zelena was going to her next class, Defence Against the Dark Arts. This was the class she was going to have her first encounter with their ticket to the house cup, Belle French. This had to go well otherwise Rumplestiltskin would kill her and she would like to graduate before that.
The classroom had the same typical desk set up as most. Four by eight. This year, there were papers hanging from all over the ceiling and the old, light wood walls were filled with drawings of every kind of wand, witch, wizard, and magical creature known in the realm. It wasn't even organized. Everything was haphazardly around with no correlation what so ever.
She waited in the back until her target entered. She couldn't figure out why Rumplestiltskin had fallen for this one. She looked helpless. She reminded Zelena of a young kitten that wanted to play with yarn but didn't because she'd get caught. She walked over to her casually and took the seat next to her. "Hi, Do you mind if I sit next to you?" she asked kindly.
"Really? You want to sit next to me?" Cruella is sitting over there and Hook is over there. Not that you're not welcome here, because you are, I just mean, I thought you'd want to sit next to your friends," she explained nervously.
"Cruella and I have a, you don't hurt me I don't hurt you, kind of relationship," she told her. "Plus Hook's sitting there because he wants to be close to Emma Swan. Plus, I know you're smart. I think you'd make a good partner."
"Really?" Belle asked.
"Are you always this unsure of yourself darling?" she teased.
Belle blushed, "It's just, This has been one of the best days of my life. Not only do I have two people who will even talk to me but they want to be my partner too."
"If I may ask, How long has it been since anyone's talked to you?" Zelena asked as carefully as she could. She almost thought that she had pushed her too far too fast and wasn't going to answer the way she looked down at her hands.
"Almost 4 years," she answered quietly ashamed.
Zelena couldn't believe that. That couldn't be true. This girl was at least a nice person, granted she hadn't known her very long but still. There was no way she hadn't been talked to by another student in four years. It pulled on her heart. She couldn't imagine being cast out like that. She put her hand on the girl's shoulder and she looked up at her, "I think that it's time that changed for good. Don't you agree?"
She shook her head vehemently, "I would like that very much."
The new teacher came up to the front of the room. He was about Madam Hooch's age. He had whitening blonde hair, stern dark blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and no smile on his face. He, for some reason, was wearing a lab coat over his brown shirt, pants, and black loafers. He was a stout, short man but bared no resemblance to a kind old soul, the way most like him were. He had a book with small sticky notes showing from all sections of the book. He wrote his name, Professor Nagadom, in big cursive letters on the blackboard before turning back to the class. "Do you know, class, what attacked me the night of February 19, 1976?" he asked them.
Everyone kinda shook their heads not really knowing whether or not he really wanted an answer.
"Of course not," he told them unsurprised. "Even I don't know what I got attacked by so how could you possibly know."
Zelena turned to Belle hoping she could bring some light onto what was going on only to find she didn't know much more than she did.
"It was February 19, 1976," he began. The whole class seemed to slump as they realized that they were going to be hearing this story for a long time. "It was snowing heavily and there was no stars or moonlight to guide me and my troope back to the safety of our cabins. We'd trekked for miles as we had gotten lost in the snow for some time. We were all exhausted. After all, We were on our last survival trip with no wands or magic of any kind. When all of a sudden we attacked!"
Some of the earlier year students gasped and jumped in their chairs while the older kids just stared at him unimpressed because they'd all had teachers that only had one fixation. Zelena, however, noticed that Belle was rooting deep into her textbook with some odd flashlight making letters appear on her textbook appear. "What's that?" she whispered.
"Textbooks printed before 1986 had black light notes written in by some of the most powerful wizards and witches that lived to tell their tales," she answered. "Brick Osborn, Marryette Littletin, Kiffle Tucker, all of them put in these types of notes in here. There was even a rumor that the original Dark One even put some findings in here but I haven't found any of those yet. I'm pretty sure that those are all password protected. You see, he may not know what attacked him but maybe someone else does."
"It was completely black except for the two white ovals that would have been its' eyes. It had three giant claws. Its' giant tail had big spikes on the end that gave me this scar," he said as he lifted his shirt.
This time everyone screamed at the sight of the absolutely horrifying, disfiguring scar that spread from one of his hips to the other. It clearly hadn't been treated right.
"The beast came in and attacked us all. We were all lucky to make it out of their alive," he finished.
"I got it! It was a Bangnosh!" Belle said a little louder than she intended to for she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Excuse me?" he said clearly not amused. "What did you say it was?"
"Well, It, um, It sounds like it was a, um, a Bangnosh, sir," she told him, knowing she'd put herself on his list of people who would not be letting her pass, at least with the grade she was wanting.
"I," he stressed, "have never heard of a Bangnosh."
"Well, um, it's a creature with, with three legs. It usually has silver eyes unless it is a completely dark night where their eyes turn pure white," she started explaining. "It has a black skin covering it from its' cat-like ears to its' stegosaurus-like tail. It's usually not an aggressive beast unless it feels threatened by a group of other animals. And it's known for, it's, really, odd, um, upcurled, um, talens."
Belle had slowed way down by the end because the new professor was now very much in her face. He quickly took the book from her and looked at it himself. "These are bowtuckles."
"You need the blacklight to see it, sir," she offered him hers trying to assist him and possibly get back in his good graces.
"Are you trying to make me look stupid?" he asked her.
"No, sir. Of Course not," she answered him very nervously.
"Do think me an incompetent fool who can't see what's right in front of his face?" he asked even angrier.
"No not all I just…," she tried before she was quickly interrupted.
"Thought you could waltz all over me. Well, I'm sorry to tell you that you are quite wrong," he said. He closed her textbook and walked back up to the front. "Let this be a lesson to you all. I am not one that will be messed with. Try it, and you will end up facing far more consequences than she did."
Belle's head fell into her hands. Her eyes shut tight. She felt like the biggest failure ever. Zelena knew that this was her open window. She put her arm around her and pulled her close, slowly rubbing her shoulder with her thumb. Zelena couldn't believe the nerve of that guy. He wouldn't even try to see if what Belle was saying was true. That jerk. She turned her attention back to Belle. "Hey, Don't worry about that old froghopper. He's just a mean old man who got picked on when he was in school. Darling, I believe you no matter what anyone says."
She sniffled before looking up at her, "Really?"
"Of course. You have absolutely nothing to worry about," she promised. "How about you sit with me at dinner tonight? Afterwards, you and I can study up together. Besides, You're probably going to need to borrow a textbook anyways. Right?"
She shook her head and laughed lightly. Zelena gave her a small squeeze before taking her arm back and sliding her textbook in between them as their Professor went rampaging on about all the crazy things he'd seen in his many years of being a wizard's troop leader.
