Babble the Unknown

Breakfast was now over and Marie-Laure joined the rest of the students in the rush to get back to their dorms and then onto classes. As she manoeuvred her way through the throng she failed to notice the spell which hit her. Her focus had been on getting to the Montagnard Common Room in one piece. Not on a rulebreaker throwing hexes on the sly.

She managed to get within three feet of the doors leading out to the corridor when she dropped the letter one of the owls had delivered earlier. "Bulldoe maf!" she shouted, unaware she had not in fact shouted watch it! but rather incoherent sounds, as someone's foot ended up on top of the letter.

Picturing the paper getting torn to shreds she pushed her way through whilst saying, "doff cammerst," which would have been move please if not for the babbling curse which had been cast upon her by a person unknown. Completely oblivious as to what had come out of her mouth, Marie-Laure wondered if people were deaf or just merely stupid. Finally she made it to where her letter was and opened her mouth to say move your foot please? Instead it came out as, "dris mudh shmarkel?"

Malachi never really liked the Grand Hall. Though the idea of the whole school eating together at long tables was charming, when it came time to leave after a meal, Malachi found himself often pushed around by the crowd. This time was no exception and after almost falling over, he stepped on the foot of another student. He quickly apologized, but they moved on without paying attention. Maybe it was best for him to just remain still and wait for everyone to pass. That seemed like a good idea and he backed up from the moving stream of people and paused.

His eyes watched all passer-byers, not really paying attention to anyone in particular. His eyes landed on an older student who seemed to have something to say, but when she opened her mouth, her words made little sense. "Ummm," Malachi uttered nervously. He had issues talking to people when he understood their language. "Bitte verzeihen Sie mir, but I am so not strong at French." He confessed, if what she was even speaking could be considered French. It was no French he had ever heard in his few months in the country.

google translate: Please forgive me

Marie-Laure frowned at the response to her request. Didn't the boy understand simple French? Apparently not and she wasn't so sure she understood what he was saying either. Well then. In that case she was going to have to use sign language. How the boy managed in class was none of her business but getting that letter back was.

She pointed down at his foot and the letter underneath it. "Molf dolm foot please." Without being aware of it the spell she'd been hexed with had now lifted half way through asking him to move his foot. Marie-Laure just hoped she made herself understood since she was becoming aware of how little time she would have left to get to the common room and then off to her first class. She'd never been late and did not want this ot become a first time.

Meanwhile her shoelaces mysteriously tied together just as Marie-Laure was in the middle of moving her feet and she stumbled. The witch looked down and then around the crowded room for the culprit. "Did you see anyone with their wand out?" she asked before squatting down to retie her shoes. She should have gone for that buckled pair instead of lace ups when shopping for a new pair of school shoes.

Gibberish translation: Move your foot please

The look the older girl was giving him made the shy boy cringe. He was frightened enough of the kids in his own year, let alone the older kids who were undoubtfully more magically talented than he was. One thing was for sure, he didn't want to go around picking any fights, and certainly not with this witch.

She spoke again and this time he caught a few of the words she was saying. However, they didn't make clear sense and he rose an eyebrow at them in contemplation for a moment before taking the word 'foot' as a suggestion to look down at his own feet. As his eyes landed on the paper beneath his shoe, he finally understood. "Oh!" He removed his foot from the paper and ducked down to pick it up for her, out of politeness and as an apology for causing her such trouble. However, as the boy rose once more, the girl had fallen and Malachi stared as she hobbled over and fell onto the ground.

"Oh Fräulein, please be more careful," He said, about to offer his help to aid her up, but she had already recovered herself before he could. He eyed the shoe laces that were suddenly tied together and suddenly things made a lot more sense. "It appears you have quite the enemy." He offered, as he held out the piece of paper to her once more. "Ach, there are so many people, it was hard to tell," He replied, looking around once more. A few students had their wands out, but all look engaged in one thing or another and none looked guilty of casting such spells on the girl.

google translate: ms....alas

She finally got through to him. "Thank you," she said as she took back her letter and held it tightly in her hand. Marie-Laure shook her head at him. "Quite the enemy after having my shoelaces tied together?" she asked. "That's not an enemy. That's just someone playing a prank on a random target." If she'd known about the gibberish she'd spoken moments before she might have considered the case for an enemy to be stronger.

Since he'd failed, Marie-Laure scanned the crowed of student, most of whom were in a bottleneck at the doorways of the entrance hall. He was right. It was hard to tell and more than one held out their wands. What for when spell casting in the hallways was normally discouraged she had no clue. It didn't look like it was to throw spells at random students. Marie-Laure nodded towards the doorway. "I'm surprised the professors haven't stopped that."