Quote:
Originally Posted by
iheartdan 
Kel jumped when he heard a voice behind him. Oh Merlin. He looked fleetingly at the trolley lady, then at the girl who'd just told him off. Well, that's what he got for not paying attention to his surroundings.
"So sorry, ma'am." he muttered, stepping back to let the girl forward. He thought about turning around and fleeing, but he really wanted his sugar quills! Ugh. He frowned and looked around, making sure he wasn't stepping in front of anyone else in line - once was enough. "Get your frogs, then." he added in a barely audible voice, before he thought about his words.
Ma'am? Mariel raised an eyebrow at the boy's choice of words, then looked at him appraisingly. He had to be close to her age, certainly she couldn't be a
ma'am to him. Of course maybe he just had
really good manners, and that would be the second boy she had met today that was not completely rude and dirt-covered. Then again, she didn't know this boy at all and maybe time would tell a different story. At any rate, two polite boys in one day and the term hadn't even started... maybe there was hope for the male population of Hogwarts after all.
Yeah, right. "It's alright," she said, pulling out the correct amount of coins, as he made his apology. It really wasn't that big a deal, now that she had thought about it. She was just really hungry and hadn't had her daily chocolate yet today. Mariel then glanced at the boy as he mumbled something else and she watched him briefly. Oh, blast, she had hurt his feelings.
"No, really, it's okay," she said quickly as she grabbed her sweets from the woman.
"I was sort of drifting off in la-la-land and was totally not paying attention. You probably didn't even realize I was in line." Mariel cringed slightly as she looked at the boy's face to see if maybe what she said made him feel any better.
"Here, have a frog," she said, quickly thrusting one of her chocolate frogs in his direction.
"Chocolate makes everyone feel better."