Near a very large tree overlooking the Lake

Her own broom was the one thing Shelby desired more than anything. "I don't actually have my own yet. Mum says that they're too expensive to get me one until we know for sure that I'll use it enough," she rolled her eyes at the memory of her mother saying that every time Shelby had asked for her own broom. "I usually use my dad's old Nimbus, but he promised me that he'll buy me one soon. I hope I get it for Christmas," she said, wondering if her father would really keep his promise.

She wondered if she was boring Indiana with her Quidditch talk, but he seemed interested enough. "There's a new Firebolt coming out soon that I'd like, but it's bound to cost nearly as much as our house so I doubt I'd get that. I suppose I'll ask for the new Cleansweep. It won't be as fast as the Firebolt, but it's bound to be much sturdier, which is important for beater's brooms."

Indiana listened with interest while thinking about what broomstick that he would want. He certainly wasn't planning on buying a broomstick but that doesn't mean that he won't be without one.

"Well if the broomsticks are expensive, then wouldn't it be better to just make your own?" Indiana asked. He wasn't sure on the procedures to creating a racing broomstick but whoever mass-produces the current available models knows what to do.

"I mean, you could probably find an obsolete model that is cheap, take it part to understand the basics, and perhaps make a customized model for yourself. Also, even if a Cleansweep isn't as fast as a Firebolt, I don't think anyone would complain if it was modified with different features to perhaps even the playing field out."

Shelby thought about it. "I don't think that's allowed, otherwise all the players would already have self-improved brooms. Tampering with a broom can be very dangerous. Anything you do to it could be potentially catastrophic. One of my dad's friends tried it and he ended up missing three fingers," she said. "Makes for very awkward handshakes."

Indiana thought about it, noticing that Shelby had brought up some noticable points. He kept thinking in the mindset that almost anything complex could be modified with custom changes, neglecting that it wasn't going to be applicable in the magical world. He wasn't going to throw in the towel, however.

"Perhaps that's true in regards to making modifications. I guess making your own broomstick from scratch is out of the question too? Surely, there had to be a time when racing brooms were made by hand rather than factory-made in mass as today."

"I'm not sure," Shelby admitted. She looked over at Indiana and could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "If you're going to try it, I'm not going to stop you, but promise me that you'll be careful," she said with concern. "What you're talking about is probably very tricky and I'd rather that all of your fingers stay on your hand."

She shook her head to herself. "Things like this are why my other friends think you're... odd," she said softly.

""Even if it is risky as you are saying, I'm not going forward into making a broomstick from scratch without proper supervision. That is if I ever get the chance." Indiana replied smoothly. "I just thought it would be an avenue to ponder on since you said that broomsticks are expensive."

Indiana then looked at the lake while addressing Shelby's last remark. "Regarding your friends, I don't blame them for their opinions. They're entitled to them. But I got one life to live so why not make the best of it in more ways than one? I wonder how they come to that conclusion."

"I shouldn't have said anything," Shelby thought, mentally kicking herself.

"Well, please don't be angry, but I sort of told them about your coded letters," she said quickly. "I mean, you have to admit that writing in code isn't exactly normal. I think Lauren's over it since she's met you now, but I'm not sure what Hilary thinks and Theresa is another thing entirely. She's worried that you're going to stab me or something even though I told her that you told me that you're not actually carrying daggers," she glanced over at Indiana, hoping that she hadn't hurt his feelings with her careless comment.

Indiana raised his eyebrows for a moment. He was more annoyed than angry after hearing that from Shelby. At the same time, however, Indiana wasn't one to lose his temper. He had grown out of the phase of throwing temper tantrums, knowing that it was counter-productive in so many ways.

"I see." Indiana spoke in a grave tone that didn't hide his apparent disappointment before taking a deep breath to continue. "I can understand that deciphering the contents must have been shocking to you that you probably felt uncomfortable in keeping it to yourself. Even May thought that I had gone over the edge, though she didn't express that in her letter. And I certainly wouldn't do anything drastic unless my own existence is on the line."

Looking up at the sky, Indiana continued. "I guess my coded letter sent mixed messages when the only thing I desire is to just have more than one way to defend myself against whatever threat that I might encounter. I don't like being a weakling, unable to do anything except hide behind the adults."

Shelby bit her lip and looked down at the ground. She couldn't process what Indiana was saying, all she could hear was the tone of his voice and it made her feel terrible.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to betray your trust or anything, it was just a little strange and I didn't know what to make of it and technically you never asked me to keep it a secret. Lauren's the one who convinced me to talk to you about it, so really it was a good thing," Shelby clamped her jaw shut when she realized she was rambling, trying to justify her actions more to herself than Indiana. She took a deep breath and asked, "Are you mad at me?"

Indiana merely looked at the lake but heard Shelby's words, considering the details. Thinking about the issue, the youth knew that it wasn't black or white. He never did ask her to keep quiet and such even though he thought she would. Making assumptions sure is a double-edge sword and it looked like that coded letter had left a disturbing effect. The youth mentally berated himself for being naive in his actions.

"No, I'm not angry." Indiana finally spoke in a humble tone, turning to Shelby with a more calm and relaxing expression. "Frankly, I probably should be the one to apologize for putting you in a troubling situation with that coded letter. I should have had more tact and common sense but at the time, I didn't think anyone would bother reading it or that the content could be extreme to those that did have the time to decipher it."

"I wasn't bothered by the content, oddly enough, I was just a little taken aback by the letter being in code. I know that you wouldn't do anything bad unless it was necessary. It's Theresa and the others who were worried about the content," Shelby couldn't bring herself to look at Indiana.

"Anyway, you have nothing to apologize for. I don't know how you aren't more upset, I certainly would be. I invaded your privacy twice- once by uncoding the letter and again when I told anyone who wasn't you," she closed her eyes, trying to will away the tears that threatened to fall, and mentally cursing her mother for passing on her overly-emotional nature. "I'm an awful friend," she mumbled.

Indiana looked at Shelby for a moment. Seeing her in such a state of distress was uncomfortable and he didn't know what to say. Except maybe one thing.

"Shelby, I swear I'll have you wear a French maid outfit with cat ears and have Elise drive you into centaur territory if you keep beating yourself up like that!" Indiana threatened jokingly, hoping to bring her out of her state of melancholy with that ludicrous statement.

The youth then turned serious. "Shelby, look at me. You are not a terrible person and you certainly are not an awful friend. Don't ever think that! People tend to make mistakes but that's just a part of being human and we all learn from them. Frankly, I see you as a very good person and a wonderful friend! Don't ever think that you are awful for one moment because I don't believe that whatsoever!"

Indiana spoke with a bit of zealous conviction, though he hoped that he didn't go overboard.

Shelby couldn't help but laugh at Indiana's ridiculous threat. She wiped away the few tears in her eyes and looked at him. Her cheeks flushed as he talked. "Thank you. That's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," she flashed him a small smile, glad that he hadn't reacted badly. If they had been on the ground instead of up a tree, she would have hugged him; very few people had the ability to cheer her up that quickly.

"So have you decided what you're going to do about that Euphemia Albion person?"

Indiana nodded. "I'll send her a letter first to see if she is as legitimate as she is making herself to be. I know there's something amiss but it would be in bad taste to just disregard her letter. After that, I'll just have to see what can be done."

The youth had been thinking about what to do in regards to Euphemia Albion ever since she made first contact with that really long letter in code. He had thought about possible motives that she might have for the grimoires but couldn't quite confirm for sure on a likely possibility.

"You might want to warn May about her," Shelby suggested with concern. "She knows you took the grimoire out of the Room of Requirement, so it stands to reason that she might find out that you sent it to your sister. You don't know if she's dangerous or not, and if she is, then May won't stand a chance if she decides to get it."

"I know and that's why I'm treading this carefully. Euphemia really played her hand well in this." Indiana replied while inwardly cursing himself for getting into this situation. "I can't alert May if there's a possibility of the mail being intercepted outside the grounds. Unless..."

"I'm heading to the wood shop, Shelby. I have something that might just work." The youth spoke in a cryptic manner containing some obvious eagerness as he immediately descended down the tree, hopping from branch to branch with the idea still fresh in his head.

"Okay..." Shelby watched curiously as Indiana climbed out of the tree.

"Wood shop? Hogwarts doesn't have a woodshop," she thought, wondering if she had misheard him. Unless...

"The Room of Requirement," she said quietly as the realization dawned on her. She made a mental note to check on him at some point to make sure he hadn't hurt himself as she climbed down the tree to head up to the Ravenclaw common room. "And he wonders why people think he's odd," she laughed to herself as she made her way back up to the castle.