| Details for Busy In The Courtyard |
| Summary: | An afternoon break where the courtyard got busy with students. |
| Date: | September 12, 1938 |
| Location: | Courtyard |
| Related: | - |
| Characters |
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Entry Courtyard - Hogwarts
A path leads from the Gates through to the huge bridge that travels across the lake towards the Hogwarts entry hall from here. The otherwise green hill isn't very steep, however, almost like it was designed for long walks and for the carriages. Another, steeper and well-trodden, path leads down to the lake shore and the groundskeeper's cabin, in a roundabout way to the west, while the lake itself is visible over cliffs hundreds of feet tall to the South.
Across the bridge and just outside the entry hall is the courtyard itself, a large rectangular area with roofed walkways along the outside, with benches to sit and arched open-air windows to give a view over the lake. Inside these walkways is a central open square just outside the doors to the castle, with a couple of larger benches to give students a place to sit.
It has been from one thing to the next. Artemis is always working on something, whether it’s schoolwork or making a check list for her work in progresses. That’s precisely what she’s working on right now, outside on a break during the afternoon with the sun shining brightly today. Seated on a bench, she holds her notebook on her lap, opened to a page with a list that has already been started on. Reaching up, she brushes a strand of blonde locks from her face, tilting her head as she thinks.
Ahnaliese sits quietly beside Artemis on the same bench—not quite too close. She's enjoying the sun while absently doodling on an open bit of parchment, proof that she is not quite as diligent as her organized cousin, and that she might be an annoying tag-along today. At least she's not talking too much.
And lo, Kaiden Sykes, awesome person extraordinate finds himself in the entry courtyard just sort of…looking up into the sky with a blank look on his face. Every now and then he'll look as if he's about to enter deep thought, but it quickly passes.
Many think that by second year one knows their way around the castle. Which might be very true, but when you add a whole new bunch of different classes in the third year, you run into not only first years, but Third Years getting a bit lost. Briar has a small herd of said lost little lambs. With a warm smile she uses stewardess gestures and points down corridors and up and down stairs giving very simple directions sending them off one by one to their class.
Andrew walks outside with a book in his hands reading as he walks towards a bench. He seems a bit distracted by the book though and accidently bumps into someone much taller than him dropping the book to the ground in surprise. He blinks and blushes in embarrassment. "I'm very sorry about that. I forgot to watch where I was walking." His voice is rather timid and he bends down to recover his book.
For a minute longer she’s silent, thinking, before she sighs and closes her notebook, resting her arms over the cover. “I think I’ll take a break and come up with fresh ideas later.” Artemis lets a sigh and shakes her head. “I don’t know how much these are going to work.” She glances to her side and to her young cousin sitting beside her. “Do you need any help with anything, Ahnaliese?” She blinks as she looks around the courtyard, smiling brightly at the people around. “Andrew!” she calls out, spying her year mate. “Are you alright?”
Ahnaliese looks up from her doodling briefly, aside at Artemis and then to the older girl's changing attention, Andrew and the formerly clattering book. Ahnaliese watches, but for a moment her attention strays to Kaiden, for whatever reason. Is it any surprise she ends up peering up at the sky, as if there might be something more than the sun to squint at up there? Either way, she looks back to her doodling and says to Artemis at large, "No, I don't."
A small dark head appears along the winding pathway up from the lakeshore. It gets closer and closer until it is obviously little Fiona Donnelly. Strange clicking sounds come from the pockets of her robes as she walks, sounds eventually audible when she makes it to the courtyard - it takes a while for her to appear. Rosy cheeked from the fresh air and the long walk she stops having reached the courtyard and leans over to pull a sock up. Bright-eyed and amused at her own thoughts she lifts her head and looks around, curious gaze tripping over those present. Her eyes widen at the sight of Briar and Fi looks, making sure there are no snotty, crying first year boys for the older girl to try and make her befriend like on the train. Oh the horror!
Kaiden finally sort of snaps back into reality as people start popping up all around him. His attention is immediately drawn to Briar. I mean, duh? Who else would he look at? A soft smile is sent in her direction, regardless of whether or not she actually sees it. The young Hufflepuff reaches up and rubs at his stubbly chin before grunting his displeasure.
Briar takes a few steps over closer to Andrew, at least to get into view of the larger student. One shoulder rolls just right and purposefully so that her prefect badge glints and the reflected light shimmers on the big guys face, really get his attention away from Andrew. "Okay there Drew?" But then there's a slight smell and little noises that catch her attention and her attention is swinging towards Fiona but lucky for the girl Kaiden is in the swing of her vision and damn that smile of his. She is over him. Over him! (Don't stare. Don't stare. You're smiling Briar, oh by the Powers That Be you're smiling back! Don't look so happy to see him!) With a clearing of her throat she tears her vision away and looks down to one of the lost lambs she's giving directions to and points her the right direction with another warm smile.
From the direction of the lake, Adie Selwyn comes dancing…yes dancing into the courtyard. The small blonde boy moves gracefully drawing several eyes as his fancy foot work brings him into the courtyard proper. With a final spin he then leaps onto an empty bench and takes a bow before actually sitting down on the bench with a grin. Glancing around green-grey eyes sparkle as they take everyone in and his cheeks are a light pink from his dancing.
Seeing that Briar is looking at her Fiona pauses, caught like a deer in the headlights. She looks just as startled to. But then thankfully Kaiden's boy-ness Adie's showmanship provides a beautiful distraction. Yes, tall and leaping boys! It is like Riverdance only Fiona is the only Irish one about. Nothing fishy here, nothing to see, just a small first year girl side stepping so that she is out of the prefect's line of sight. The odd click clacking sound continues with each step, probably ruining her chances of a sneaky get away.
Upon realization that Briar's caught him in the act of smiling, he just sort of looks at the ground. Cloaking device, activate! Damn! Is it too late to punch a child to preserve his image? Kaiden decides 'yes' and clears his throat, moving over to talk to Ahnaliese, "Hi, I don't think I know your name. I'm Kaiden." Anything's better than trying to talk to Briar, really.
Artemis has a hand propped against the seat of the bench, partly pushing herself to her feet as she stares over toward Andrew. But she smiles when her House’s prefect shows up, offering a friendly wave towards Briar. She settles back down in her seat, looking down to Ahnaliese and nodding her head in acknowledgement to her. “What are you working on?” she asks. Her bright blue eyes are pulled toward her dancing housemate, letting out a little giggle. A hand lifts tentatively in wave.
Ahnaliese shifts, crossing one of her legs beneath her other knee. She looks up at Kaiden, eyes suddenly big. "What?" she says, as if she's in trouble. "Oh, I'm a Brown, Ahnaliese Brown. What were you looking at up there?" She asks all this while shifting her parchment so Artemis can see: it's a doodle of a girl with wings beside another of a dragon, and the doodle is rather simple, the kind you might suspect of a pre-firstie.
Amidst this though, there's one thing that Ahnaliese's mind is trying to discover: the source of that click-clacking! Ahnaliese's eyes fall on Fiona; it's just one more set of eyes, and only bearing the weight of a first-year Hufflepuff, but also intense curiosity.
Xander strolls into the courtyard from the castle proper, walking alongside a hovering ghost, who he seems to be sharing some private joke with.
Kaiden shrugs at Ahnaliese and says, "I don't really know, but if I wasn't looking, I might have missed it." Kaiden smirks and looks down at the parchment, "You draw, too? I used to draw. Seems like forever ago, now."
It's that deer in the headlights look that truly tips poor Fiona's hand when it comes to the Hufflepuff Prefect. But Briar's noticed the girls bronze and blue color scheme, so she'll just keep that feather in her cap til she comes across a Ravenclaw Prefect so they can handle the pocket search of the escaping First Year. Adie helps with keeping her from peeking back at Kaiden, that nagging wonder if he's still looking at her. Unaware that they are both playing the 'look at anything but' each other. But then he's being all sweet and introducing himself to a first year. Dang it! But then "XANDER!" She calls a bit too desperately excited and she closes the distance between them. Yes, focus on the boyfriend, not the Ex! "Hey Mr. Ghost." Unlike said boyfriend, she doesn't know any ghost's name beyond the big 4.
Fiona eyes all the Hufflepuffiness and feels an itch coming on. An itch to move along. Whistling casually she returns Adie's wave with one of her own and ambles towards the castle door. Nothing to see here, just a small girl with click clacking pockets. Oooh a ghost. The no corporeal entity does give her pause. The little Ravenclaw wracks her brain trying to remember which poltergeist this one is.
Spotting the wave from Artemis Adie waves back rather enthusiastically smiling brightly. Standing up from his bench he makes his way over shortly after Kaiden does. "Hello how is everyone today?" He glances around and spots Fiona next giving her a wave and a bright smile as well. He then turns back to Artemis and those around her. The first year beside her gets a smile as well and the subject of drawing causes it to brighten. "I've always admired though who can draw…me I prefer to dance or sing…or both." He grins playfully at them.
Xander bids his ghostly friend goodbye as the spectral, hovering man wanders off through a wall, giving Briar a wave as he goes. Xander strides up to meet Briar halfway, wrapping his arms around her for a fairly tame display of affection. "Hullo, lovely."
"Why did you stop?" Ahnaliese asks Kaiden, glancing aside at Adie briefly as well, and giving him a brief double-nod, for whatever reason. Again to Kaiden she asks, "Did you find better things to do? Sometimes I think drawing is a little boring, but," and Ahnaliese smiles too easily here, a quirky little half-smile, "there's so many other more boring things! And why not draw what would be even more fun than real life, like flying! With wings I mean." Her eyes narrow slightly, and her eyes momentarily have a distant look.
Kaiden shakes his head to Ahnaliese, "There's nothing in life 'better to do' than following your bliss. Y'know, that one thing in life that you'd do for free if money weren't so important?" He smirks and shrugs, "I dunno, I guess I was just convinced it wasn't all that important.
Artemis looks over the doodle and considers, if only for a moment, about mentioning that she could be working on lists or write ups. Only, she sighs and decides not to. Especially since she’s not going interrupt the conversation she’s in. Her head tilts as she watches Kaiden and Ahnaliese, clearly some thought process going on in her head but then she’s looking up as Adie approaches. “That was really impressive, Adie. I would love to learn how to dance like that.” Her eyes shift and she’s looking across the courtyard, letting out a sigh as she stands, hugging her notebook to herself. “I’m sorry, I need to get going now. I wanted to catch Professor Beery and see if I could help him.” She looks down to Ahnaliese. “I’ll see you around.” And up to Kaiden. “Watch out for her, okay?” Before she bounds off in a hurry, hefting her bag over her shoulders.
Briar gladly steps into the embrace and her own arms wrap up around behind his neck. With plenty of room between them, being good in public to keep PDA levels low. "Hullo." She repeats back to him in his proper British, which sounds rather exaggerated coming past that American tongue. "You getting all the latest Ghost gossip. Don't think I don't know they are your network of spies." There's a smirk on her lips as she peeks towards Kaiden for just a guilty moment when she hears the question about why he stopped drawing and his answer.
Drat the ghost is gone. Oh well, on to bigger and better things. Fiona makes her way inside, click clacking all the way and nobody any bit the wiser as to why.
Xander shrugs, smirking a little. "I wouldn't say 'spy network.' They're more like…my version of the Daily Prophet. A news source." His eyes flicker toward Kaiden when Briar's do, and he quickly looks away, tensing just slightly. "So…um…what are you up to?"
Ahnaliese muses on Kaiden's words for a bit, but comes out of her reverie shortly after his last comment to call after Artemis, "Bye!" Her eyes chance across Briar and Xander, but quickly divert, and to Kaiden she says, "Yeah, I see," and nods. "So what's important? Well, everything you just said I guess, but what else?" Smiling suddenly she says, "Wait, does that mean I should try to figure out a way to get wings eventually!?" Adie is given a glance too, as if he surely has a great ambition of equal measure.
Briar senses Xander's tensing and she risks a quick chaste kiss to his cheek, "Basking in how lucky I am. My man's got connections. He's not just all looks, talent and brains." Giving Xander a little squeeze she whispers, "I know how lucky I am. He just knows weak spots without trying." Only an Ex can be accusitory and also defensive, knowing Kaiden's just being Kaiden and she knows she's got to work on getting a thicker skin when it comes to him. "Seems like we've got quite the Badger cluster." She says to those around her as now that the little clickety clackity Ravenclaw girl (it must be a Ravenclaw girl thing between Hephaesta and now Fiona) has egressed. Briar of course met Ahnaliese opening feast for the grand tour. "How are you settling Ahna? Anything I can do to help you get settled?" Turning to lean lightly back against Xander she then asks, "Who's trying out for Quidditch?" That's always a safe topic.
Xander sighs softly, accepting Briar's explanations about Kaiden…at least outwardly. He chuckles, shaking his head. "I'm no athlete. I'll Just cheer you from the stands, Yankee Girl."
Kaiden shrugs at Ahnaliese and says, "Well, I don't really know. I doubt anybody knows." He chuckles and slides his hands into his pockets. He tilts his head, "So, what do you like to draw?"
"Mmm," Ahnaliese muses, shifting to lean on one hand while still sitting on the bench. It gives her a better view of Briar. She shakes her head, "I don't think so, Crocker." If she smiles a little, and she does, the source is left up to one's own guess. "I think I need to help you not be boy-crazy!" she teases, her cheeks puffing in a smile again. She starts kicking one of her feet back and forth.
Something dawns on Ahnaliese-perhaps its the continued nature of Kaiden's question—and she forgets her prior thrain of thought with Kaiden. She whispers to him instead, "Are you trying to not look…that way?" She gives a nod toward Xander and Briar. "I like to draw scenes, and imagine what is happening in them; they're boring though.
Ahnaliese flips to another page showing a bunch of exotically-armored stick-figure wizards casting way-too-many spells all at the same time.
Despite it being comfortable outside, Virgil emerges with his scarf in place and coughing up a fit. This isn't anything new. Walking along at a sedate pace, he takes a seat not far from the others and starts fiddling around with his bookbag. Pulling out his transfigurations book, he holds his scarf to his mouth while he flips the book with his free hand. "Hey guys," he says to anyone and everyone, pulling down his scarf to smile at them before he pushes it back up again across the bottom of his face.
Briar gets a little sly smirk and nudges her shoulder back into Xander's arm, "Maybe not, but you've got other talents. And I can't help it Ahna. Just look at this face." Briar, making lewd innuendo? Never. She reaches up to hand model Xander's face playfully but she means it genuinely too. When Kaiden is so busy trying to pretend the whole smile thing didn't happen that she doesn't get heard the first time she stretches out her leg to poke a toe into Kaiden's calf. "Quidditch. Hellu? Gonna go for Captain again? Should I try out? You know me, I don't mind sitting bench if the Underclassmen want to play. Any word yet if there'll be a good try-out turn-out?" A wave is given to Virgil and she seems welcoming enough despite the Hufflepuff Heavy conversation topic. "You should draw the Team Picture when it's all sorted out Ahna."
Xander is a fairly laid-back fellow, so having his face manhandled by his girlfriend is taken in stride. He does finally release her from his embrace, settling for her hand in his. His eyes continually shift to Kaiden, and rapidly away again.
"And, I'll draw all the fowls every game," Ahnaliese says, smiling enough to laugh briefly. Her eyes fall across Virgil, but perhaps because she's a first-year she keeps more to herself, save a little smile. "I'm good at that," she continues to Briar but still eye Virgil briefly, "and drawing the winning event. And maybe what you all look like after you lose and win. Stick figures make for fast drawing." She laughs again, seeming to think this is funny.
Ahnaliese's eyes shift to Kaiden again though.
"Those are really nice. You mind if I borrow a pencil for a second?" Kaiden smiles at Ahnaliese, awaiting an answer as he finnally picks up on the fact that Briar is talking to him. He turns and looks at her, saying, "I sure hope you'll try out. You've got a good swing and you're a good rider. If you decide to bench yourself, you'll at least be good to have around to teach the younger ones. And I hope I get Captain, again. It's up to the team, though."
"Are you guys talking about quidditch?" Virgil asks meekly and watches those who had responded to him pleasantly. Leaning his head back towards his book, he flips a few pages and then slides his palm down against the heavy paper, holding the book open to the page no matter how he shifts. "I can't play," he admits woefully. "I'd have a fit and fall off, or something."
Xander smirk and nudges the air near Virgil with his elbow. "Don't feel bad. I'd probably run right into the stands and impale some poor onlooker with my broom."
"Thanks," Ahnaliese says to Kaiden, though she doesn't seem to take it too heartily. She nods and picks herself up off the arm she's been leaning on with a grin in response to Xander and Virgil's interchange.
Grabbing her parchment from her lap perhaps a little too eagerly, Ahnaliese offers it and her quill to Kaiden. Once he's taken it she offers her ink bottle too. "You can draw on a blank sheet, or by some other doodles, whichever you want, just so long as you don't spill on me," she says. She smiles suddenly and adds, "And you have to sign any doodle you do!"
After the incident with the dropped book Andrew picked up the text and settled on a bench to read quietly. The young boy got so lost in his book he forgot to stay alert to his surroudings so when a stinging hex hit him in the back he jumps ooff the seat with a yelp. Looking around he hugs his book to his chest just as his three normal tormentors from Slytherin come out of the bushes nearby with evil smile and thier wands drawn. Andrew takes a step back trying to move so no one else will get hit once the bullies start thier hexing.
"You must be worse at flying tham I am," Virgil replies to Xander and extends his neck a little so that his smile can be seen over the edge of his scarf. Wiggling his feet a bit, Virgil draws them up underneath his book and places it in his lap. He spots the Slytherins even as they emerge and shuffles a bit nervously. His scarf coming up in short order to hide even more of his face so that only his eyes can be seen over the top edge of the dark blue cloth.
Briar gives Kaiden a rather grateful smile, "Alright, I'll try out." One final decisive nod is given before she smiles more and tilts her head in a welcome to the conversation way towards Virgil. "Yeah, talking about Quidditch. It's a shame you can't play, but most of the fun is in the cheering anyways. I bet you can cheer like crazy!" Her fingers in Xander's hand shift about a little, just to rub against his own hand. But then Andrew's in trouble and she's moving quickly, forgetting said hand is tangled up with Xander, it's in her prefect voice that she calls, "Andrew, go over to Kaiden." Try as Andrew was in trying to position so no one will be in the way, she positions herself right in front of the bullies. "Put your sticks away. Don't be as dumb as everyone thinks you are."
Xander shrugs to Virgil. "I think I'm just easily distracted." He gives Briar's hand a little squeeze, just as she's wrenching away from him to play Prefect. "Oh, bloody hell." He marches after his girlfriend to back her up, glaring ominously at the Slytherins. He's not the scariest fellow around, but sometimes his reputation for being "that kid obsessed with death" works to his advantage.
Kaiden has been so busy talking to Ahnaliese that he didn't even notice the bullies, but now that Briar's sort of reclaimed his attention, he hands the pen and parchment back to the young girl holding up a finger in a 'one sec' gesture and goes to join the line that's forming in Andrew's defense. He may not be the most magically solid kid in school, but the boy's sort jacked these days, as you would expect a Quidditch Captain to be. "Want me to hit 'em Briar? I've lost house points before, not afraid to do it again."
"I have an ink bottle I can throw at them," Ahnaliese offers, shifting her parchment and quill to the bench beside her. The fact that she doesn't go for her wand betrays her year of all things, and the obvious lack of skill that comes with that. But she still has an ink bottle! For now she stays seated though, but in that antsy kind of way that suggests readied poise.
"By shiny things? Maybe you should try out for seeker," Virgil suggested wryly, though nobody could see the smile that followed as it was buried in blue cloth. Lifting a hand he pressed the scarf to his mouth and coughed several times, his body jerking with the force. The guts of the others was inspiring, but he didn't get involved. First years should keep their heads down in these sort of situations.
Slowly Andrew backs towards Kaiden his eyes widening in surprise as so many stand up for him. The bullies for their part looks between each other then at the crowd of people between them and thier target before stalking off to bother someone else. Andrew backs into someone as the walk off and jumps a little but over all seems relived. "Thank you all. Those three never seem to know when to quit."
Xander gives Andrew a smile and a shrug. "Fortunately, neither do Hufflepuffs." He soon resumes his place at Briar's side, reaching for her hand. Surely, Kaiden's proximity has nothing to do with it.
Briar smiles and gives Andrew a little chuck to the shoulder. "No problem. Those three are high on the Mud Club watch list. So it's the least I could do. These two are just here for their protection." She is only half joking at that. "You okay? I should probably keep after them and see if I can herd them Lucian's way." By her tone, Lucian is the only Slytherin she'd trust to handle the bullies as she feels they deserve to be handled. Her hand slides into Xander's and she gives it an assuring squeeze. "I could use them blues and them tall legs to help me watch them and find Laucian." She's not dumb to follow after three Slytherins all by herself.
Ahnaliese laughs to herself at this outcome and gathers up her parchment and quill. "See, this is something I can draw," she tells herself. "Bullies, and Hufflepuffs— the lines are drawn!" she narrates, scooting back onto her seat on the bench as she begins to scratch out circles for an ametuer rendition of the bullies' awkward faces.
Kaiden offers Andrew a pat on the shoulder and a wink, "Don't worry about it." He moves over to have a seat next to Ahnaliese, pointing at the parchment, "Don't forget to draw his really gross moustache." He drapes one leg over the other and crosses his arms, watching her draw.
Xander nods and moves off with Briar, hand in hand, giving the others a wave as they go…but conspicuously avoiding looking at Kaiden.
Ahnaliese smirks about the idea of a moustache. “Moustache,” she repeats, laughing as she scribbles one across one of the faces. It makes her laugh a little more. She continues to add a few other details as she begins to sketch things out. “Here!” she says easily, “you should draw some of it too,” she offers, handing over the quill and parchment to Kaiden.
If there's a class coming up soon, Ahnaliese has entirely forgotten about it.
Andrew smiles gratefully up at Kaiden blushing slightly at the wink and then watches as Briar and Xander head off. He makes his way over to the bench he was sitting on and sits back down picking up his book once more.
Kaiden smiles at the offer of the pen and parchment and says, "Fair enough. Here." He takes the items and picks up a book to set in his lap and use as a drawing surface. He scribbles away at the page, eventually sketching out a piece of the scene. When he realizes he's only drawn Briar, his brow furrows and he hands it off to Ahnaliese, "Here, you can go from there, huh?" He looks over to Andrew and says, "Tell me about yourself, mate."
Folding his hands in his lap, Virgil watches as the two walk away in pursuit of the Slytherin sorts and adjusts his scarf a little. "You should watch out for them later. They're like predators in the wild, they wait until you're alone," he points out and runs one of his hands through his brittle looking hair.
Andrew blinks and looks up from his book gaze fixing on Kaiden in surprise when he realizes the other is speaking to him. He smiles shyly and tilts his head to the side studying the other for a moment before he manages a reply. "What excatly did you want to know…I'm not really that interesting." He seems quite shy about talking about himself and just a bit nervous as well but not uncomfortably so.
Ahnaliese is smirking by the end of Kaiden's sketching and as he hands the parchment back to her. She looks aside at him, as if this will help her figure him out. Whatever she might say, she doesn't. To Andrew she remaks, "Everyone is interesting!"
Virgil receives her attention next though, and she asks softly and with slightly narrowed eyes, "Do you think they'll remember all of us, the Slytherins, or did it happen too quick for them to notice more than Crocker?" Her eyes do again shift to Andrew though, since he was at the middle of it. She twiddles with her quill in idle thought.
Kaiden shrugs at the boy, "I don't know. What's your favorite thing in the world to do?" He looks over to Virgil and says, "As long as you puff out your chest and stand a little taller, you'll all be alright when it comes to bullies. Either that or make friends with a Quidditch captain. Especially one who's a beater."
"That is a toss up between reading and helping people." Andrew admits with a shy smile to Kaiden. "I love to read on various subjects but I also like to help others with whatever they might need. I want to be a healer when I graduate so…" He trails off blushing and bit and closing his book to glance at the others.
"I'd bet it was too quick," Virgil answers Ahnaliese with a hidden smile, though there is still a faint crease around his eyes at the gesture. Flipping to the next page in his book, he glances down and then back up towards Andrew at his comment. As to making friends with the Quidditch captain, he doesn't say anything to that either. Silence seems to be working just fine.
Ahnaliese nods to Virgil's comment. "I hope so," she agrees.
"Are you a beater?" Ahnaliese asks Kaiden then. She leans away slightly on one hand to get a better angle. She looks at the older boy's face first to make sure he's not looking back at her and then, whether he is or not, glances at his arms and chest, as if this will be the telltale locations of a beater's build.
Kaiden smiles at Andrew and says, "That's an awesome thing to want to do. I imagine that once you make it through Hogwarts, you won't have to worry about bullies. Nobody wants to bully a healer." He grins and looks down at Ahna, "I am a beater, Ahna. Best one at Hogwarts, if anyone asks. Gonna go professional."
"See, and he's your friend now. Just name drop on bullies, tell them your cousin Kaiden has been looking for someone to beat on," Virgil snickers over the edge of his scarf and then ducks his head back into the protective covering. He coughs again and folds his hands up into his armpits then, like he has caught a sudden chill. "It's hard to tell who is whose cousin in the families," he points out in case anyone is unsure, being a Goshawk he knows all the twists of that knot. "Anyway, if it doesn't work, they might hesitate, and hesitation when pursuing prey is weakness. Escape. Be smarter, not tougher."
Andrew grins at that comment and rises to his feet picking up his book. "I should be going in. See you later I guess." He smiles shyly and gives a slight wave of his hand before heading inside.
"Ace," Ahnaliese says to Kaiden's admission, and then looks after Andrew. "Bye!" She watches him with a little concern, and almost opens her mouth to say more, but turns to give Virgil a nod instead. "I can see how that'd work; you sound experienced. But! I could get him into too much trouble too."
Kaiden stands up and stretches, looking at the two of them, "Well, I'm going to head back to the commons. It was nice talking to you guys." He smiles and offers them both a wave before he departs shortly after Andrew.