Hogwarts 50
Apple
Theo caught the apple in just enough time to prevent it from hitting him in the face. He heaved a great sigh, annoyed. Younger years had no respect for what should be the quiet sanctity of the common room. Theo wasn’t stupid enough expect silence but tossing an apple about in a mock quidditch match, that was ridiculous.
“You should play quidditch.”
“No, I shouldn’t, quidditch is a frivolous waste of time. I have better things to do.” he said in a bored tone, looking over to who had spoken to him. Some girl he’d seen around yet never really paid attention to, not that he paid much attention to anyone.
The girl huffed, offended at his words. “It was meant as a compliment, no need to be rude.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “It’s not rude, its just the truth.” he said tossing the apple back to the girl and turned his attention back to his potions book. He glanced back up after a moment feeling her gaze still on him. “Can I possibly help you with something else?” He snipped fixing her with a stare that would have most scurrying away.
This fifth year though, stood straight not intimidated in the slightest. “You can apologize.”
“For?” Theo blinked taken a bit aback by the audacity of the dark haired girl in front of him. Didn’t she know that he had N.E.W.T.s to study for, that he didn’t have time for such nonsense as this.
“For being a complete git.”
“Hamilton! I’ve been looking for you for ages.” Alan said entering the common room pulling Theo’s attention away from the onrery fifth year. He stopped looking between the two confused. Theo didn’t blame him, it wasn't often he talk to younger years. "Not interrupting am I?"
Closing his book, he stood up from his chair as he shoved it into his bag. “Not at all.” He said cutting off Alan from commenting any further. “I imagine you have found something entertaining for us to do?”
“Excuse me, I think you are forgetting something.” the girl demanded before they could even take a step towards the common room door.
“Oh yes.” Theo stopped turning back. He took the apple back out of her hand. “Thank you. I was famished.” He said in a superficially pleasant voice. If she was going to call him a git, he was going to act like one. “Alright, let’s go.” He took a large bite of the apple as he walked out with Alan.
<
Stripped
“I have a present for you.”
Delilah wrinkled her nose at the pile of robes and clothes dropped on the table in front of her. “Are those someone’s pants? This is not a present. This is gross.” She said looking up at her boyfriend. Someone needed to reevaluate their definition of a present.
“Right you are, very gross. I looked like a right prat walking through the castle carrying them. Caradoc suggested we throw them out. I volunteered to take care of it.” Henry said dropping down into the chair across from her. Delilah just stared at him getting the distinct feeling she was missing a vital piece of information.
“And why didn’t you! I am not a house elf. I don’t want your dirty robes. Or pants.” Gross. She folded her arms across her chest glowering at Henry, while he just leveled a look at her. She knew that look. It was the one he always wore when he was waiting for her to catch up. She hated that look. Stupid smart boyfriend, why couldn’t he just tell her things. She glanced over at the robes again, this time noticing they were Gryffindor robes. Two sets of them, so whatever stupid plan he had, he dragged Eight along with him. “What did he do now?” she asked with an exasperated sigh.
“Tried to booby trap the Slytherin team locker room,” he said rolling his eyes.
“Without me!?” Delilah exclaimed causing Henry to raise a brow, “I mean, How dare he!” she corrected quickly giving him a sheepish smile. Some days she honestly forgot her boyfriend was a Slytherin, let alone was on their quidditch team. It wasn’t like she was coming after him. He was different.
“Without you?” Henry repeated, his brows still awfully high.
“Oh come on. Pranks are fun. And I wouldn’t be pranking you.”
“Uh huh. Perhaps I should just throw these out after all.” He said bitterly reaching for the bundle of clothes.
“Henry.” Delilah whined stopping him from taking the robes. “Even you have to admit that Captain of yours, what’s his name, Corduroy? He’s a bit of a tosser and deserves it.” She smiled a bit when she caught him fighting a smile of his own. “So where did you boys leave my brother stranded?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you anymore, now that I know you plot with him against me.”
“Not you. Corduroy.” She tugged on the robes, essentially pulling him closer and planting a kiss on his lips.
“Caradoc, and he’s still my captain Delilah.”
Delilah waved him off, not caring what his name was. “Aww, I’d offer you my assistance, but it seems that you don’t need it. Pleeeease Henry. I promise to mock him properly.” She wheedled.
“Fine. We left him and his sidekick in a tree just on the edge of the forest.” Henry let out reluctantly causing Delilah to let out an undignified squeal.
“In a tree! This is the best present ever!” She said kicking her feet in delight. She stood quickly pulling the robes from the table, letting the rest fall to the floor.
This time Henry did smile watching his girlfriend literally dance at the fact that he left her twin stranded naked in a tree. “That is how I started the conversation.”
“Best boyfriend.” She said giving him another kiss. “I am going to rescue them, and then I am promptly returning to give you a proper reward.” The gryffindor grinned at his blush and started to skip off.
“I think you are forgetting something.” Henry called before she could get to far. He nodded to the pants that fell to the floor.
Delilah wrinkled her nose. “I’m not touching those.”
“Well, I am certainly not either.”
“You brought them up here!” Delilah protested.
“First off, they were wrapped up in those robes, second, once is enough. I did my part. He’s your brother.”
“Exactly. Still not touching those, he’s lucky to get his robes. I’ll meet you in the entrance hall in twenty minutes, okay?” she said with a smirk stealing one more kiss before running off without waiting for an answer.
She made it out onto the grounds in record time.
Perspective Challenge
Nightmare
Seth was enjoying being at Hogwarts, really he was, but there were just a few tiny moments when the eleven year old really wished he was at home. There was a raging storm, and a large clap of thunder startled him from his sleep (which wasn’t so terrible as he was pretty sure he didn’t want to continue on with that particular nightmare). It was strange, this was around when Henry came in to annoy him about the storm scaring him, and whine and wheedle his way into making Seth letting him stay.
He frowned realizing that his brother was in fact not coming, that he was probably not even suffering the same storm Seth was, which wasn’t even remotely fair. Another loud clap of thunder had Seth deciding that, nope, he did not quite like being high up in Gryffindor tower. This was a definite downside. How was it even safe to have children this close to where the lightening was. What was Hogwarts thinking. Pushing back the curtains on his bed, Seth scrambled to his trunk.
He was just pulling robes over his pajamas when he heard curtains rustling behind him. “Hey! Where are you going?” Seth whirled around to face the whispering accuser. He was caught! There was no way he was going to admit that he was scared of a stupid storm. They would be sure to kick him out of Gryffindor for it. Gryffindor was for the brave at heart. Even if they didn’t, Seth was sure Michal would never let him hear the end of it, and he was really liking the idea they were on the way to being good friends.
“I, er, I am hungry.” Seth said thinking fast, keeping an eye on the other beds to make sure he wasn’t waking anyone else. “And I heard a fifth year saying something about sneaking into the kitchen’s the other day, so I thought I’d go see if I could find them.”
They stood staring at each other for a moment, and Seth swore Michal was trying to catch him in his lie. “Dude,” he said turning to grab a set of his own robes. “I can’t believe you were going to leave me behind.”
Seth blinked taking a moment to catch up with the words. “Oh, I didn’t know you would have want--”
“Of course! Always.” Michal said cutting him off and starting to lead them out of the dorm and down the stairs. “You always wake your best friend for adventures of the rule breaking sort. It’s part of the code.”
Seth nodded with a grin. Now that they were down in the common room the sounds of the storm were a bit more muffled. That combined with the distracting force Michal was providing, Seth relaxed considerably. “I won’t let it happen again,” he swore opening the portrait hole and creeping out into the hall.
“You better not.” Michal said fiercely, looking up and down the hall. “Which way?”
Honestly Seth had no idea which way. He just knew it was possible to sneak into the kitchens. Not how or where. “Well, it would make sense for it to be near the Great Hall, right?”
“Works for me.” Michal agreed with a shrug as the pair of them set off towards the Great Hall.
They didn’t make it very far before someone clearing his throat loudly stopped them and their whispered planning in their tracks. “And where do the two of you think you are going?” a Ravenclaw prefect asked.
“Breakfast.” Michal quipped not missing a beat.
“It’s nearly two in the morning.” the older boy rebutted.
“I was hungry. Thought we’d get an early start.” Seth added as if it made complete sense.
“Uh huh. Pull the other one boys. Back to bed with the both of you.” The prefect ushered the two of them back towards their common room. “I’ll let you slide and not take any points this time, being the second week and all.”
When they were finally escoted back to the Fat Lady Michal looked up to the older boy. “I thought you weren’t suppose to know where our common room was. You are a Ravenclaw.”
He just rolled his eyes, “It’s not as big of a secret as you think. One of my best friends is Gryffindor after all.”
“Uh huh. And I didn’t think prefects patrolled this late. Don’t you have a curfew too?” Seth chimed in.
“You two ask too many questions. Just go back to bed.” The Ravenclaw shook his head as he turned to leave, muttering something along the lines of “Firsties. Gryffindors. Bloody nightmares.”
Exchange
Delilah faceplanted into the textbook that she spent the last hour and a half trying to understand. How she ever manage to make it to the seventh year level N.E.W.T class of anything was beyond her. McGonagall was going to have her head if she was late turning in another essay. Guaranteed way to get a quick practical lesson in being turned into a lazy stupid sloth.
It would be that much of a change.
She let out a loud groan of frustration. Charlie was no help. Nora was once again down at the paddocks with professor Kettleburn doing who knew what and Octavius was much smarter and had finished his essay last week. Delilah was sure to get the most grievous disapproving look if she asked him for help being as she waited until the day before it was due to start.
A polite "Excuse me" interrupted her inner anguish and Delilah shifted just enough to see the blue and bronze and she groaned again returning to her face first position in her book. Great, now she was going to be lectured by some know it all Ravenclaw for disrupting the peaceful sanctuary of the library'.
"Sorry. I will try to die a bit more quietly." She said with a tone of bitter defeat. Instead of footsteps moving away like she had expected, the chair across from her scraped the floor as it was pulled out. Ugh a -helpful- Ravenclaw. Joy. She wondered idly if they had a quota of dumb Gryffindors they were required to help. Charity, that is what this was.
"I'm sure reading the text helps more than laying on it."
"Nuh uh. I get all my fabulous grades by absorbing the words through physical contact." Delilah responded sarcastically, still not looking up.
"Osmosis."
"What? " Delilah demanded looking up sharply, she was distracted for half a second by the pretty face, but was successful at reminding herself to stay on track. She didn't know what it was he said but it wouldn't be the first time someone covertly insulted her. “Rude.”
She narrowed her eyes as the ravenclaw attempted to hide his snort of laughter in an obviously fake cough. “That’s what it is called. Absorbing something through contact, osmosis.” He was doing his best to fight the smile, but it was creeping on his face to spite him.
“Well aren’t you super smart.”
“I am.” He agreed ignoring her sarcastic tone and pulling her book and notes towards him to see what she was working on. “I could help you, if you wanted.”
Delilah studied the boy across from her. She was almost positive he wasn’t in her year. Well he couldn’t be! Otherwise she would have seen him in at least one of her classes over the past seven years. “How are you going to help me? You aren’t even a seventh year.”
“Because I’m ‘super smart’. Come on, what could it hurt. I’ve finished two essays in the time you’ve been over here staring at the same page. I’ve noticed.”
“Rude!”
“Do you want help or not? I’ve gotten nothing but O’s in transfiguration since ever.”
Delilah folded her arms across her chest and pouted. She really ought to send the rude boy on his way, but she had to admit she was a bit on the desperate side. And he was rather nice to look at. And if she wanted to be honest, he was being rather kind and not rude at all. “Fine. I suppose I would appreciate it. Quite a bit. A lot.”
“Perhaps in exchange, you could teach me a hex or two? I’ve caught sight of you at the dueling club a time or two. Very impressive.”
Delilah blushed at the compliment, grinning brightly. She was rather talented at dueling. “I suppose that is only fair. I just learned a couple new ones the other day. A bit nasty, but really effective in a pinch. And completely legal in competition duels! I checked.” She tacked on the last bit quickly, realizing how it might sound. It wasn’t like she went about cursing people in the halls.
“Of course. Wouldn’t want to learn anything that isn’t by the rules.”
She smiled once again. No one had ever asked her to teach them something before. IT felt
quite nice to know that someone thought she was capable enough to learn from. How nice and not rude at all. “Sooo, do you have a name, or do I get to make one up for you?” Delilah asked tilting her head to the side.
“It’s Chester.” The boy replied with a sweet grin holding out his hand.
“Delilah!” She chirped shaking it. “Thanks for helping me.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Chester said politely, before dropping his attention back down to her textbook.
SuperstarTrouble
Stumble
No Big DealJeremiah shrunk slightly as the crowd formed around him. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. His dad was always shoving prototype brooms on him to fly around. He must of had at least three different models at home. And he specifically left them at home for this very reason.
He knew his dad meant well but sending him a new broom right before tryouts, wasn’t going to suddenly improve his chances of moving up from reserve. “Do you get to try out all the Nimbus brooms before they come out?” a younger hufflepuff boldly asked as Jeremiah stood from the table. “That is so cool.”
Jeremiah just shrugged. “It’s cool until you get one that hasn’t had all the bugs worked out and you end up getting bucked off mid flight. Hit or miss really.” Picking up the barely opened package, he shuffled through the crowd ignoring the pleas to have a closer look at the broom. He was quite happy with his Nimbus 72, which was already available to everyone else, and had no desire to test out another model. Honestly the 73 wasn’t any better (if not worse) and Jeremiah wasn’t convinced one more year would have improved anything else.
Slugging into the common room, he was happy to see that it was mostly empty, saving a few other sixth and seventh years already swamped with school work. Making his way over to Matthew, he dropped the package unceremoniously over his open book, earning him the attention of the seventh year.
“What’s this?” he asked slightly confused as Jeremiah settled into the chair across from him.
“It’s a present. Happy last year of Hogwarts, I’ll never forgive you for leaving me behind to sit the bench alone.”
Matthew didn’t have to peel back the brown paper to know that it was a broomstick that had been just dropped in front of him, but he did it anyways. Only to find that it was a new broomstick, and knowing Jeremiah it was probably one that hadn’t even been released yet. “I can’t take this.” There was no way he could accept such a gift because there was no way he could ever return the favor.
Jeremiah just quirked a brow at the supposed quidditch player. Who turned down a broom? That was just insane. Though he really didn’t find it all that surprising coming from Matthew. “Well I don’t want it. I’m perfectly happy with the one I’ve got. And I can’t send it home, so that means you kinda have to take it. Kendall just got a new broom last year and you know how he feels about dad’s prototypes. He’s still bitter about that broken arm from that third year pickup game.” He watched as Matthew’s fingers danced along the handle while he hesitated in taking it. “If it makes you feel any better, it could be a shit broom and I’m not doing you any favors at all.”
That got a smile out of Matthew and Jeremiah beamed as friend took the broom into his hands to inspect it. “Thanks,” he said softly looking up from the broom to Jeremiah.
“Eh, don’t worry about it. Just let me know how it flies so I can pass it on to dad. Also, standard untested broom nonsense applies. Not my fault if the broom spirals out of control, it won’t, they fixed that four models ago, but have to say it anyways.” Jeremiah said stealing Matthew’s book to see what he was working on. He frowned at the text. “Man, I am not looking forward to next year.” |
