(1938-09-02) Snowsnakes and Galleons
Details for Snowsnakes and Galleons
Summary: Breakfast in the Great Hall, Day 1 of School. Augustin is a goof, Janette is aloof, and girls are talked about.
Date: September 2, 1938
Location: Great Hall
Related: Ground Rules
Characters
AugustinJanetteDouglasLillian

It is quite early in the morning, but Augustin and a couple of his Hufflepuff dormmates are here in the Great Hall, just sitting down to breakfast. Scattered around the room are boys and girls from other Houses, too, the early risers, and a couple of teachers at the Head Table. At the moment, Augustin and his friends are tossing grapes into the air and catching them in their mouths. "Alright, lads," Gus says. "Watch this, now, prepare to be impressed!" He tosses one, two, three into the air in quick succession, and catches them all in a row. Throwing his hands into the air in victory, he basks in his friend's laughter and applause.

Young girl glides through the ground into the Great Hall, giving impression, that she does not reach it with her small feet. Maybe, it's because of the long cloak, which hides her Slytherin uniform. Though, it may be because of her elegance. Each step is very careful and light at the same time. Her shoulders are straight and chin haughtily risen. Girl's almost white eyes glance at the people around almost unseen, not turning the head at all, this way keeping that lady's manner in her stance.
Moreover, some kind of mystery and grace are formed because of the snow-white skin, which looks as cold as ice. Oh, yes, and the hair… Long, slightly curly, hair sways with each step dreamily as it would be many dancing snowflakes in the snow storm.
Janette sniffs at such victory impassively, when she goes through these childish boys. Young girl, who understands herself as a lady, takes a seat a bit farther from the boys. She extends her pale hand to take an apple, which she cuts in four pieces and just then takes out a bite of one of the slices, chewing it slowly, cleaning lips with the embroidered handkerchief from the juices, still sitting very straight, a bit haughty.

It's that disdainful little sniff that gets the attention of the Hufflepuff boys. As one they look up at her, then at each other, then break into sniggers and quiet guffaws of laughter. Augustin bites his lip, cheeks pink, trying to muffle his chuckles, while the rest of his buddies all straighten up and take on Janette's mannerisms. They sit up straight, lift their noses into the air, and grab apples. Very precisely, each of them cuts it, almost like a choreographed dance, into four exact slices like Janette had. In unison, they take bites of their apple slices, chewing slowly, noses up, backs straight. Napkins are grabbed, lips dabbed. Augustin can't contain his laugh any longer, and tosses his head back and lets go. "Bwahahahahahah!" His friends break down and laugh, too.

At first, Janette just chews on her apple, while her almost white gaze is fixed somewhere on the unknown spot in the wall. However, that laugh gets her attention. Young girl glances at these boys again. One eyebrow jumps up and a slight resentment flashes in her look quicker than a mind.
Girl shrugs and sniffs one more time, extending her hand to take another slice of the apple. Strong white teeth are stabbed to it. Girl chews the bite incredibly slowly, pouting her lips, which has no that usual redness. Thoughtful eyes study the Hufflepuff company as she would be the artist, who examines quite not impressive picture.
Though, when she swallows the bite, small snaky tongue licks her lips playfully, while she watches at the boy, who is the only one, trying to muffle his laugh. Then, girl just mannerly tosses her frosted locks back and Janette concentrates on her foot again.

Again, apples are reached for, bites are taken, chewed slowly. Augustin catches the fact that Janette glances their way, and can only slap a hand over his mouth to try to tamp down his hilarity. His eyes are a dead giveaway that he's still highly amused, however, as are the shaking of his shoulders and the redness of his cheeks. The boys with him toss their hair, and one of them goes, "Humph!" in a high falsetto voice. A strangled laughing sound comes from behind Gus' hand and he bends toward the table, shaking with amusement.

Douglas is actually early for breakfast for once, sliding into a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table and giving a double finger guns salute and a grin to the girl sitting opposite. He takes a moment to pour a drink before turning to watch the Hufflepuff sideshow, clearly amused.

Janette rolls her eyes a bit sneeringly and mumbles something similar to "They must be in the first grade…" She finishes eating her apple and pours the glass with the pineapple juice. Colourless lips are moistened to the drink and young Slytherin girl glances around, looking at the teachers and other students, studying them all intently.
The free hand politely rests on her knees, while she still keeps sitting incredibly straight with the raised chin. When her orbs catches the sight of the already seen boy from the Gryffindor, she just sighs and shakes her head, slowly turning the gaze on a Slytherin boy from the Seven grade, who just entered the room, offering him quite a warm smile. The boy comes closer, bows to Janette as a real gentleman "How is your day, lady?" % Janette just chuckles "Good good! Can't wait for the potions! How are you?"
The boy grins "Glad to hear. I can't wait for my own lecture too," and he goes to meet his classmates, who are sitting a bit farther. Janette continues sipping her drink.

Augustin's Hufflepuff friends almost seem like they're getting tired of the game, when another Slytherin comes along and /bows/ to her. Augustin watches wide-eyed as they spring up. "My /lady/," one of the says to Gus, and bows deeply. "What?" Gus says, laughs. "Why am /I/ the girl?" "Snow princess," says another to him, bowing even /more/ deeply. "You're as pretty, as unique as a snow-snake," says the third, bowing so low his nose almost touches his knees." Augustin chuckles again, but this time he's slightly embarrassed. He glances to the girl, and around the room, eyes landing on Douglas as well.

Douglas takes a drink from his cup, giving Augustin a bemused look and a shrug. "Hey, don't look at me, man. You totally started it," he points out. "Besides, y'know. You're totally a pretty pretty princess."

Janette raises from her seat. Snow-white curls sways elegantly in the air, and young girl, not giving even a slightest glance at the Hufflepuff boys, paces near the company of the Seventh grade students. They all start discussing something silently, but some words about the lectures, potions, wands can be heard.

Augustin laughs when Douglas calls him a pretty pretty princess. "Why thank you. You're rather dashing, yourself." Gus bats his eyes at the Gryffindor 7th-year and folds his hands beneath his chin, simpering. His friends snicker and go back to their breakfast.

Douglas laughs aloud, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Yeah, yeah, I know it. I'd offer to take you away from all this, but… well… it's just that you're not my type, big man, you know?" He picks up an apple from the table and is about to bite into it when he thinks better of it, replaces it, and picks up an orange instead.

Janette and her company quite quickly finishes the discussion about the school, when Seventh grade boys from Slytherin start peeking at the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors, with lenity in their eyes, because how else you can look at the so not grown up boys and their behaviour? Slytherin boy whispers to the prefect girl something in the ear and Janette's soft silvery laugh ripples through the Great Hall.

"That's alright, really," Gus says easily, propping an elbow on the table but keeping himself half-turned around so he can continue speaking with Douglas. "I met a girl on the train last night." He whistles. "Pretty as a picture." He raises his voice slightly, so the frosty Slytherin prefect can hear him. "This girl I saw, she's the prettiest girl in England, I think. A Slytherin, with long pale hair, the softest-looking lips… Ah. I think I might marry her, some day." He has his back to Janette, so she can't see his face, which Douglas can. It would be clear to him that he's /not/ talking about the prefect. She might not know that, though. Augustin takes a carved wooden snake from his pocket and shows it to Douglas. "I started carving this for her," he explains. "As a token of my… er… love is probably too strong a word, yet. Esteem, I suppose? Admiration?" The snake is quite well-done, actually, though it still needs a few finishing touches.

"Desperation?" Douglas supplies helpfully, leaning right back to have a look at the carving. "Hey, you know the key to a woman's heart is through a tiny wooden worm. You've got to be in there, man. What's her name?"

Maybe, if it would be possible for the young girl's cheeks to blush, they would do that. Though, from irritation, most likely. However, she remains as pale as usually, what gives the impression, that she is very calm and not caring at all about all these silly speeches.
However, the seventh grade boy tosses a little bit angry glance at the Augustin and others. He leans to whisper something for his own company and the same soft voice of Janette utters "Roger… No. Really, no," and her pale fingers pat the shoulders of the one, called Roger.

Augustin's friends all laugh at Douglas' suggestion, and agree that their buddy is probably desperate. "It's a /snake/," Gus says, ignoring them. "Look, it's got tiny little fangs," he points out. He holds the piece at arm's length and frowns at it. "'Cause she's Slytherin. Hm. You think she won't like it?" he asks, seeming slightly worried. "Her name?" Gus repeats, blinking up at Douglas. "Wait. Do you have a girl?" he asks with a grin. "Are you asking because there's a certain beautiful Slytherin you want for yourself and you're just making sure I'm not the competition?"

"I want /all/ the beautiful Slytherin girls, man," Douglas insists solemnly, picking off a piece of orange peel and flicking it towards a group of unsuspecting third years. "I freely admit it. I'm not picky."

Janette's company starts discussing about other things again. Three Slytherin boys are interested in the speech about first grade students, food, Quidditch. However, the little snowflake just nods in agreement with them about everything, what is said. But her thoughtful look is stabbed on the white curl, which is whirled around the pale fingers now. She is obviously more interested in the conversation, which raises between all these childish boys. But she quite successfully hides that interest, trying not to look at the boys.

Augustin laughs a little more and puts the snake back into his pocket to be finished later. "Just keep your lion paws off of mine," he requests nicely. "Don't really feel like thrashing anyone, but when a lady's honor is at stake, you know. Needs must and all." He runs a hand through his messy hair. "See, lately my mum and dad have been hounding me to find a girl to marry. And it can't just be /any/ girl. Must be a pure-blood." He snorts. "They're picky about that sort of thing. If they'd gone to school in England I think they both might've been Slytherins." He pitches his voice into the falsetto, and puts on a French accent. "Augustin, I'm your mother, I love you, I only want what's best for you and for the family. If you don't find a well-bred girl to marry soon, I'll find one, never fear!" He shakes his head. "Well. If things work out between me and my beautiful Slytherin, at least she'll stop pestering me."

"Marriage, though?" Douglas queries, finally managing to get a segment of orange to bite into. "Seriously? We are way too young to have to be worrying about that. Well. Unless she's rich. Is she rich?"

"That's what /I/ think," Augustin agrees fervently. He blinks at the last part. "Rich? I'm not sure if she's rich. We've never spoken about that. Doesn't matter, my family does alright. But the /point/ is that I want to study art in France before settling down and begetting a bunch of howling offspring. I happen to know that my beautiful Slytherin has aspirations of her own. I certainly wouldn't want to hold her back." He eyes Douglas. "You rich?" he asks curiously. "Is that the first criteria you look for in a girl?"

Janette's eyebrow jumps up quickly, when she hears the french accent and all the speech about pure-blood people. This time curiosity is way more stronger than manners and girl glances at the boys. She forgets about all the company around and just thoughtfully whirls that curl round and round around the finger. However, for a few seconds, her pale eyes find the place, where a bunch of Slytherin girl's are sitting, as she would be trying to decide, which of her known girls have the attention of the Hufflepuff boy.

"That's what /I/ think," Augustin agrees fervently. He blinks at the last part. "Rich? I'm not sure if she's rich. We've never spoken about that. Doesn't matter, my family does alright. But the /point/ is that I want to study art in France before settling down and begetting a bunch of howling offspring. I happen to know that my beautiful Slytherin has aspirations of her own. I certainly wouldn't want to hold her back." He eyes Douglas. "You rich?" he asks curiously. "Is that the first criteria you look for in a girl?" He glances over at Janette and her hair-twirling. "For instance, if you learned that she was rich, would you ask her out?" He squints at her. "I suppose, from an artists' point of view, she's rather fabulously pretty. Doesn't hold a candle to /my/ girl, you know, but if all you want is money and a pretty face…" he nods his head toward her, then raises his eyebrows at Douglas.

"Me? I don't have two galleons to rub together," Douglas admits cheerfully. "If she had a face like the back end of a horse, but a ton of money and no sense to go with it, I would marry her before breakfast."

Now Janette gawks at the company with quite a huge irritation. Discussing like this?! Who are they?.. Girl's eyes widen and she opens her mouth, if she would like to say something, but these three Slytherin students gets her attention, when Roger gently puts his hand on Janette's shoulder "Are you going?"
Girl glances at Roger a bit confused, then her gaze gets back to the Hufflepuff boys. Janette just sniffs again, tosses her frosted hair back, stands on her feet, and hangs on the arm of Roger as a lady should. Whole company walks out of the Great Hall quite haughtily. However, before Janette vanishes, she tosses irritated glance at Augustin and others once more.

Augustin laughs. "Oi, sir — you are /cold/. Maybe you and the SnowSnake /would/ make a good pair," he suggests. When she leaves, he blinks after her and then shrugs. "Couldn't hurt to ask her, yeah?"

Douglas snorts a laugh. "Come on, I've got more sense. I'm pretty sure if I asked her, my bits and pieces would fall off just from the withering look she'd give me. Besides, how rich /is/ she?"

"I'm /not/ really in the habit of asking to look at a girl's figures," Augustin quips. Then he pauses, blushes, and chuckles. "Er, her bank figures, I mean. Ah — or the — the other kind, actually. Not that I don't want to look. I mean, I /do/, but, er, it just wouldn't be proper, you know. To ask." His blush is getting more and more pronounced as he stumbles along.

"Keeping it classy, big man, keeping it classy," Douglas laughs, peeling off another segment of orange to pop into his mouth. "So come on, do I get to hear who your mystery girl is? I'm in suspense, here. How am I supposed to carve my own wooden worm to steal her away if I don't know who I'm stealing?"

It is to this bit of conversation that Lillian walks in on. The blonde Slytherin girl walks by Janette as she leaves the hall and heads for the Slytherin table. She sits can't help but overheard the conversation and frowns slightly. She looks between the Gryffindor and her…wait when did he become her Hufflepuff! Confused by her thoughts she takes a seat and Slytherin table and reaches for an orange peeling it absently and watching the two discretely. She doesn't say anything just yet though.

"Lillian!" Augustin blurts out. "Hullo, there. You look especially lovely, this morning. Just telling Douglas about this pretty Slytherin girl I asked out." He glances at Douglas and jerks his head toward the girl. "That's her," he says. "Mitts off, yeah? At least until /after/ she dumps me." He grins.

Douglas holds his, admittedly orange covered, hands up, the picture of innocence. "My mitts are off, man, my mitts are off. But if it turns out she's not into Hufflepuffs and their invertebrate flavoured gifts, you'll let me know, right?" He gives Augustin a grin, and turns his best, most charming smile on Lillian. "You're too good for him, you know that, right?"

Lillian blinks and smiles faintly at Augustin. "Good Morning." Her smile brights a bit and then looks to Douglas. "Me? I think you have it in reverse. He is most likely to good for me. Way to good." She turns back to Augustin and smiles brightly at him as she takes a bite of her orange.

"Aheh, heheh," Gus says, sounding a little nervous. "Nobody's perfect, eh?" he says. Augustin's Hufflepuff friends are staring back and forth between him and Lillian, looking positively /shocked/. "Wait, wait," one of them says. "You mean to tell us that /she/ is going out with /you/?" The three of them shake their heads in disbelief. "Did he blackmail you?" one of them asks.

Douglas grins, peeling off another piece of orange and wincing as the juice hits him squarely in the eye. Wiping it with his sleeve with some annoyance, he shrugs. "You've got to be doing something right, big man. Either that or the blackmail is /really/ juicy."

Lillian grins playfully at that nervous expression. "Now don't be embarrassed Gus, you should have known what you where getting into when you asked me out. I -am- a Slytherin after all." She laughs softly and shakes her head at the blackmail suggestion. "No. Besides as you can see he is far more likely to yell my secrets to the entire Great Hall than he is to privately use them against me." She smirks and takes another bite of orange licking her lips.

"Oi!" Augustin protests, shooting his friends, and then Douglas, an irate stare. Then he blinks at Lillian. "Yell your secrets?" he repeats. He draws himself up, pretending to look offended. "I am /neither/ a villain, /nor/ a blabber… mouth…," he says. Whatever fake haughtiness he might have mustered up is derailed by the sight of her tongue on her lips. He stares. Cheeks pink, he drags his gaze up to meet her eyes. "You're safe with me," he says huskily.

"OooooooooooOOOOOOOOH!" comes a teasing chorus from Augustin's friends.

Douglas just sniggers into his breakfast, shaking his head. "Seriously, big man, I wish you the very best of luck. And you," he adds to Lillian. "Because… dear god are you going to need it with that one."

"Am I?" Lillian questions her cheeks turning a light pink under that stare. Despite this her eyes have a conflicted yet hopeful look. After a moment she looks away with a soft smile and goes about finishing her orange. Down the table a ways a tall black haired seventh year Slytherin is glaring at Augustin. Lillian notices this and sighs. That boy had been trying to date her for a year now and the more she says no the more insistant he gets. She shoots him a glare of her own and then looks back to Augustin and his friends smiling faintly once more.

"Thanks," Augustin says to Douglas, only to stick his tongue out at the backhanded compliment. He nods to Lillian. "Definitely," he assures her. Is there a Slytherin boy glaring at him? Gus catches his eye and beams back with a beatific smile. "/Lovely/ day, isn't it?" he asks loudly. His friends might tease him, but they will back him up, especially when they, too, catch the other boy's hostile glare. They form ranks, shoulder-to-shoulder, and copy Gus's smile. It's an eerie wall of cheerful belligerence.

"Oh dear god, it's like a wall of Cheshire Cats," Douglas notes quietly at his table, rolling his eyes goodnaturedly and returning to finishing his breakfast. "Hufflepuff. Death by grin."

Lillian looks at the wall of grinning boys and shakes her head. She can't help the amused laugh that leaves her a second later. The comment from Douglas has her laughing again and its a good moment before she calms down. Her tone is teasing as she gets up and walks by their table. "A smile is a Hufflepuff's favorite weapon apparently. I however will stick to my bat." She smirks and leans down to place a kiss on Augustin's cheek whispering something in his ear before turning and sauntering out of the hall with a smile on her face.

For once, Gus' friends are silent as Lillian walks over, kisses him, and saunters off. Augustin watches her go, fingertips touching his cheek where her lips were. He clears his throat, cheeks pink, and then stands up like a man bewitched. "Excuse me, lads," he says to his friends and to Douglas. "But she… there's a… bye!" He zooms after her.

"Day two of the new year," Douglas points out, watching after Gus in awe. "Seriously, that man works fast. I need to learn from him."

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