Getting to know each other (Humphrey and Nancy)

[Nancy Blackmore]

Nancy felt like eating something delicious today. Since it was summer, ice cream seemed like food from heaven to her.

"what may be better than this incredibly perfect mixture of milk and berries with ice!" was her main thought while she was going to her destination.

It was summer, and it was rather boring, moreover Nancy didn't have much friends (read "no friends at all"), so her days were dull and not exciting.

However, she was finally there enjoying her ice cream and life was almost perfect to her. Oh, what is it? A boy came in and he sat next to her! What should she do? How is she going to talk to him? But it's Humphrey, and he seemed to be a good guy.

"Hello, Humphrey"

[Humphrey Williams]

Humphrey was just finishing up a long day of shopping for school supplies when he got a hankering for some ice cream. Florean Fortescue's was the place to go, so that's where he went. It was also hot, and he knew it would be very refreshing after all the walking he'd done.

Walking into the shop, he went straight to the counter. After looking at the flavors, he decided on a mint and chocolate ice cream. Naturally, he ordered three scoops on a big cone, since he was a growing teenage boy. Once he got his ice cream and paid for it, he turned around to find a seat.

As soon as he turned around, he noticed Nancy, a Ravenclaw in his year, sittiing at a table. She was trying to figure out what to say as usual, she wasn't the biggest social butterfly around. Nancy was nice though, and fun to hang out with.

"Hey, Nancy." Humphrey answered her, waving with the hand not holding his ice cream. Walking over, he pushed out the seat and plopped down. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" he asked.

[Nancy Blackmore]

It was like a teeny-tiny little disastrous storm inside of her head.

"of course you can sit there. Errr, how are you? What were you doing today?"

Ok, the first step was over, it was going to get better soon. Nancy tried to persuade herself that he was a good guy, but thoughts within her head along with the feelings that she had just didn't seem to care about it.

She smiled her silly smile.

"At least I look good" She thought.
"but has it ever helped you?" her inner voice replied.

[Humphrey Williams]

Nancy was always so quiet, she always seemed to have trouble thinking of what to say. Maybe it was just an awkward stage she would grow out of. Or maybe she had anxiety around people, didn't really matter either way. She was nice, and that was what mattered.

"Well thanks." Humphrey said, and sat down. "I'm doing well, how are you Nancy?" he asked. "I've been getting my course books, new robes because I grew a bit, and just wandering around. You?" He'd found a nice set of orange and blue dress robes as well. They were bright, and fun, just like him.

She was smiling for some reason, and it made him smile as well. "Just what are you smiling about Nancy?" he asked.

[Nancy Blackmore]

"So shopping" she said quitely while looking at her ice-cream.

"well, everything's the way it should be, just fine."

She smiled again but when she saw Humphrey smiling back and almost laughing, she realized that she'd forgotten to answer his last question, something she would always do.

"Oh, nothing, really, I just think that it shows that you are open to... Well, never mind, I'm just in a good mood today!" And another silly smile.

Nancy suddenly wanted to ask him a question, that she would never even ask herself, but she always had it somewhere in the depth of her mind.

"Errr, Humphrey, have you ever felt... Out of place? Like you just shouldn't be there?"

"Did I really say that?!" was her thought.

[Humphrey Williams]

Nancy never seemed to look at people when talking to them, she was extremely shy. She was always either staring at the ground, or some other thing. Hopefully, she would gain a bit more confidence and start relaxing a bit around people. He knew it would take time, but maybe she would become a bit more talkative. "Yea, just shopping." he agreed.

"The way it should be is not just fine, you are supposed to be fantasmagorical. Wonderful! Not just fine, be better than fine." Humphrey said. "Sorry, I can be a bit weird sometimes. You here shopping as well?"

Despite her oddness, Nancy was fun to talk to. One of the things he noticed is taht she almost always had a smile on her face. It was nice to meet somebody who was generally smiley. "No never minds, come on, tell me." Her good mood remark made him chuckle a little bit. "Glad to hear it."

All of a sudden Nancy's face became serious. He wasn't sure what had changed, but clearly something was bugging her. Humphrey would do his best to try and help her, listen to whatever she needed to talk about.

This was something he knew about, the feeling of being odd, awkward. That was how he felt when he came to Hogwarts, and at his old school as well. "Yes, actually. At my old school, and here at Hogwarts too, I felt like I didn't fit in. Maybe it was because I'm too talkative, or a bit quirky, but I always felt that nobody wanted to be friends with me. Then...well things just changed. One day, I just started to feel more comfortable with myself, and when that happened I started making more friends." he said. "Don't be afraid to stick out though Nancy, that was what I had to learn. It is perfectly okay to be different, and if people don't like different than that's there problem, not yours." Humphrey said encouragingly. "You are a pretty cool girl."

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