1974

SLYTHERIN. A HOUSE THAT BOBBIE WAS IN, YET WAS REPEATEDLY TOLD SHE DIDN'T BELONG. The people in the Slytherin house were purebloods, the most well known there the Black family and the Malfoys., who always made their presence known, and their hatred for muggle-borns known, especially towards Bobbie.

Being a muggle-born, deaf, and kind were not the words that many the pureblood Slytherins wanted to be associated with, which was exactly why Bobbie was their main target for teasing. She didn't fit in with them, she didn't fit with many of the houses, but Lily Evans, who had been sorted into Gryffindor, had stuck to her words to Bobbie, they had remained friends. And now in her fifth year, Bobbie kept to herself, she sat by herself, studied by herself and ate by herself. But Lily Evans made sure that she wasn't alone, and Bobbie was always thankful for that.

Lily had made sure from the first day of Hogwarts that each day of the week, she would go and sit with her friend, go to the library with her, walk her to class, and most importantly, make sure people would leave her alone. From her first day in Hogwarts, Bobbie had understood what her parents had told her, children used teasing as a way of highlighting what they didn't understand, things that they just couldn't comprehend in their adolescent mind, which is why Bobbie never retaliated to the teasing.

If she wanted to, she could go tell anyone of their teachers, but she didn't, that wasn't Bobbie. She put her head down and got on with it, much to Lily Evan's dismay, nobody bullied one of her friends and got away with it, as the Slytherins had seen many times, especially when ending up in the hospital wing with a broken nose or boils appearing on their faces. Bellatrix and Narcissa Black were creatures of habit when it came to making fun of the 'little deaf mudblood' which they called her many times, though she didn't realize that Bobbie knew what they were saying.

Soon into the first year, the rest of her house realized she wasn't pureblood and she wasn't 'normal' in their eyes, and much of the rest of the school, but instead of teasing, stayed away. However, the Blacks weren't known for backing down from things, and nor did they back down from trying to make Bobbie's Hogwarts experience miserable. But Bobbie luckily could avoid them.

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Since meeting an finding out about Bobbie's impediment, Lily had begun learning sign language to speak to Bobbie in a way she would feel comfortable and understand. Lily, as well as Bobbie, was kind to everyone she met, to those who she felt deserved it. She knew that Bobbie was shy and quiet due to her hearing, but she had never met a lovelier girl and she felt guilty that Bobbie had to watch other people talk, while Bobbie found it hard, and slightly embarrassed to speak due to how she sounded. So she began researching, spending hours in the library perfecting her sign language and when finally showing Bobbie, the dark-haired girl was overwhelmed.

Since then, Bobbie and Lily had become some of the closest friends, always giggling at the fact that no one else could understand them gossiping. Lily couldn't understand how even through all the teasing, Bobbie remained happy and smiling, but she was thankful for it in a way, she didn't want to see Bobbie upset, which is why she tried her hardest to stop anyone saying awful comments to her.

Time and time again, Lily had tried to convince Bobbie to meet new people, telling her about her friends in Gryffindor that she was sure would welcome her with open arms, but each time Bobbie just shook her head as if saying no. Smiling, Bobbie would sign to her "they're your friends Lily, I have you and my books, that's all I need." But Lily knew it went deeper than that, being the kind-hearted person she was, Bobbie felt as though she would intrude on their friendships, and she didn't want to feel as though she was a charity case. But coming up to her fifth year at Hogwarts, Alice Smith had enough of Lily telling her Bobbie was okay on her own and decided to introduce herself, which she felt guilty she hadn't done before then.

On one Friday morning at the end of the fourth year, Alice had walked over to the end of the Slytherin table in the great hall and pulled Lily along with her. Bobbie just looked up at the pair curiously as Lily, too, was confused by her friend. Alice turned to Lily, "please sign to Bobbie that i'm sorry I haven't introduced myself earlier, and would she like to be friends?" She told Lily, as Bobbie and Lily looked at each other, before bursting into giggles.

Alice just huffed at Lily, "what's so funny?" She asked Lily curiously, as Lily just shook her head. "Bobbie can lip read you know, we just choose to sign." The other girl's face turned a light shade of pink before turning back to Bobbie and sitting down on the bench opposite her.

"Sorry about that," she laughed slightly. "But I meant what I said to Lily, I feel ashamed I never made the effort to come and talk to you, because Lily never seems to shut up about you, but I would like to be your friend if that's okay with you?" Bobbie knew what Lily had said all along was correct, the girls in her house were lovely. She didn't hold anything against them for not speaking to her before now, everyone knew of the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry, it was the talk of Hogwarts, so what reason was there for them to be friends? But it Alice was anything like Lily, she knew the rest of her years at Hogwarts wouldn't be so lonely.

Smiling at Alice, Bobbie nodded as the girl squealed with delight. But before they could carry on speaking, Bellatrix Black spoke up from the other side of the table, sneering at the girls. "Infecting our table are you Smith, Evans? Please leave, we're infected enough with the retard." She sneered as Alice flipped the girl off, "bugger off Black, go and pray to Satan or something." She told her, as Bellatrix huffed, storming off.

Lily, Alice, and Bobbie just chuckled, knowing that Bellatrix disliked it when someone fought back. But Alice just turned to the two girls, placing her elbow on the table and her head in hand, "so, any gossip you two know?" Making the girls burst out laughing, Bobbie knew, maybe the last few years of Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all.