| Details for Afternoon Chit-Chat |
| Summary: | Afternoon idle time on Hogwarts grounds. |
| Date: | 1938-10-11 |
| Location: | Grounds, Hogwarts |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Several students are out and about in the grounds this afternoon, enjoying the last of the good weather before winter. Not too far from the main pathway sits Dean under a tree, upon one of its gnarled roots. Violin case at his side in the grass, the young Hufflepuff is tuning the instrument, twisting a peg a hair, then running the bow over the same string to test the note.
When word gets out that you stopped a fight and you are the youngest kid in school it is a good idea to lay low; difficult to do in a boarding school. Fiona has opted for hunting for treasure. Dressed in her favourite dungarees and a thick jumper, her hair in twin plaits, she is around the back of the tree, using small brushes to clear away the earth around it. Hearing music she pokes her head around, curious.
Niko was making his way through the grounds, not in a hurry just walking. When he spots Dean, he recalls him from the other day and walks over to him slowly, looking at him playing the violin for a moment before nodding, staying silent and listening.
The rim of Dean's black derby hat blocks his vision as he looks down at the violin, not seeing Niko nearby. And the tree helps to block the digger behind him. He draws the bow across the violin in a few long and mournful but sweet notes to a piece.
Not the least bit bothered by the dirt, nor its cold clamminess, Fiona crawls around the base of the tree so that she can better see who the musician is. Sitting down on her knees, resting her dirty hands atop her thighs she watches, a little smile on her face. Niko gets a glance, and there is a bit of worry in it as if she expects all older students to be mean or something.
Niko nods slowly, his hand running through his hair slowly, before he breaks the silence, "It sounds wonderful." he says softly with a small nod, "How long have you been playing?" he asks softly, tilting his head a bit to the right, causing his amber hair to cascade down his face.
Dean looks up at Niko's voice and pushes back his hat with the end of his bow. "Oh hey, Niko!" He glances down at the violin now resting in his lap before answering. "Oh, my grams has been teaching me since I was just a tyke. Care to have a seat?" He motions to a nearby root and notices Fiona. He jerks a bit startled before letting out a nervous laugh. "Hello there, didn't see you."
"You are very good," says Fiona with the confidence of someone who knows music. "What kind of music do you know?" Niko gets another side glance but as he doesn't seem to be too likely to throttle her for being a rat she looks back at Dean. "Do you call it a violin like the posh folk do or a fiddle?"
Niko takes a seat slowly on the branch, "I've never been much for musical things." he says softly, with a slow nod, "Always wished I could play, but not really my thing." he says softly, "How have you been Dean? Well enough I hope?" he asks softly with a smile. He smiles at Fiona softly, "And Donnelly, hope you have been doing well. Been a couple weeks since I've seen you around, ever figure out how old the coins were in the fountain?" he asks softly with a smile.
Jeez, Niko knows -everyone-! Dean chuckles to himself, "Thanks for the compliment. There's easier, more laid back instruments you could try. Harmonica, for example." He turns a bit to face the two of them better. "I was taught on the older stuff like Vivaldi, Bach, Schumann and the like. I do like to keep up on the newer pieces though, I really like Stravinsky's work. He's brilliant."
"Oh, the fountain?" Fiona chuckles and wipes at her face, smudging it with dirt. "I found one that was two hundred years old but I chucked it back in. It's bad luck to steal somebody's wish." She looks down at her hand and seeing the dirt on it reaches over to wipe it on the grass nearby. "I play," she tells Dean, "but not the violin. I have a piccolo. Are you in the arts club? Sometimes I go and play music. Once I did a duet with my cousin Conall, we serenaded his girlfriend Gabrielle. It was good crack."
Yes, Niko knows everyone, "Can you picture me with a harmonica?" he says slowly, tilting his head a bit to the right, with a soft chuckle, "That it is, I will let you know for certain if I hear of one that is older." he says offering the younger girl a wink, then listening to her, nodding slowly. "So you are saying Dean here needs to serenade his girlfriend?" he says playfully, that warm smile on his face.
Dean nods towards Fiona, using his bow to push his derby hat back up after it falls a bit from the nodding. "Yes I am, I think I've seen you there, now that you mention the piccolo." Sans a bit of the dirt, he thinks. He lays the bow across his lap with the instrument and offers his hand to the girl. "Dean, by the way. Dean Hawthorne." Niko's words bring a bit of a flush to Dean's cheeks.
"Well," says Fiona, her Irish accent thickening, "I don't be knowin' if Dean has a girlfriend or not so I cannot well say." She reaches over and shakes Dean's hand with her now cleaner hand. "Fiona Donnelly." There is no point in denying who she is since Niko said her surname already, but there is a bit of hesitation in how the girl says it. "But I have been hearin' how them girls that likes mustaches are lookin' for boys. Me Father," she coughs and when she speaks her accent is fainter as if she had given herself a mental shake. "My Father has a fine mustache but it tickles when he kisses me. I don't know why anybody would like that. I have asked him not to have it, but he says he has to hide his scar somehow lest Mother be frightened."
Niko offers Dean a small wink, "Playing with you Dean." he says softly, stretching out a bit, his hand moving an pulling out a novel, "I am finally ahead enough in my classes I can get back to this." he says slowly, cracking open the book, "Been almost a week since I have had time to read it." he says with a chuckle, as he begins reading his Sci-Fi novel. "So Dean, you should grow a mustache." he says with a chuckle, "Me, I am incapable to of growing on." he says with a wink to Fiona.
Why does everyone think Dean can grow a mustache? His eyebrows aren't *that* bushy. Dean tries to take in all the information Fiona is giving, but he only scratches his neck with a half-dumb smile. If he recognizes her name, or has heard the gossip, he doesn't show any sign. "I don't know about mustaches, but I don't think that's on my list of priorities for the next bit." He glances at Niko and his book. "I'm sure there's a charm or potion that can help you out in growing on, Niko. You sound absolutely distraught about not having one." He grins a bit playfully.
If there is mischief to be had, a bit of genteel teasing to do, Fiona is your gal. Taking her queue from Dean she nods solemnly. "Oh aye, there is a hair-thickening charm. They teach it to you in domestics club. A girl in my house was offering to help boys get mustaches using it." She puts her little index finger over her upper lip. "What do you think, maybe I should get one? There is a fifth-year Slytherin girl who has one and she is scary. Maybe it'll help keep the bullies away."
Niko turns a page in his book, listening to them slowly, "Well the issue is we tried that, the girl who tried that charm on me was a fifth year Slytherin girl, well we already know how that ended." he says with a softly chuckle, looking up from his book and warmly smiling at both of them, "Though we haven't tried a potion yet, you offering to sip a few for me Dean?" he says with a chuckle, "What you need to do, is draw one on your index finger, so when people come to bully you, you can put it under your nose, so that they don't realize it is you." he says softly tapping his nose knowingly.
Dean waves a dismissive hand at Niko. "Every potion I handle either blows up or gives me quaccups." He shudders at a few memories. "And I don't want to imagine what a mustache potion would do when it blows up." Dean curls an eyebrow at Fiona's words, but only shrugs with a chuckle. "If you're trying to hide from someone, I don't think a mustache is your way out."
Fiona eyes her finger as if imaging a mustache drawn upon it. With a sigh she looks at the boys. "Maybe I could go ginger. Then I'd just be another ginger Irish one and people won't know it's me." Sinking down on her heels she says forlornly, "You try to save people from getting bird poop in the eye and look what happens? Boys shove you around. Girls try and trip you in the corridor." Woe is me! Woe is me!
Niko chuckles softly at Dean, "If you ever want help in Potions just find me and poke me." he says slowly with a nod, before listening to Fiona. "What's going on?" he asks her softly, tilting his head a bit curiously, "Is someone really trying to hurt you?" he asks, sounding a little bit more serious now.
Dean offers a thankful nod to Niko, but gives a helpless shrug, as if he were beyond help in potions. "I'll remember that." At Niko's change of tone, Dean looks at Fiona, waiting to hear her answer.
Her little nose wrinkles. "I stopped a fight and because I did I got house points and they got punished. Them three aren't so bad. We've sorted it, but nobody else knows that. They're wanding for me now." Because wizards wouldn't be gunning for you would they? "Alphard had to stop these bullies the other day." She grins, "He was brilliant. He shoved this one boy down and I used my elbow," she mimes the action of elbowing someone, "to get another one in the bits. Then the other two ran off."
Dean shudders a bit at Fiona's last words. He rubs his neck idly as he listens. "Bullies get what they deserve, no doubt. But that all seems a bit excessive." He shrugs a bit and deposits the violin into the case next to him. The bow is laid down next to the instrument and Dean goes to work on the latches. "Are the bullies always so violent? I mean they're just house points."
"My brother said that's the best way to get a boy to let you go." Fiona reaches up a hand, fingers twirling in her hair. "It isn't the house points. It's that I'm now a rat. I told Pringle what happened." The hair twiddling continues. "If you ever see older students do something they shouldn't, think twice about telling. Pringle might like you but nobody else does."
Niko smiles softly, "Alphard is a good chap." he says slowly with a small nod, "I am glad he was there to help." he continues with a small nod, "You did the right thing, Upperclassmen should be setting the example, not acting like idiots." he says slowly, shaking his head.
Dean nods in agreement to Niko's words. "They all sound like a bunch of gits anyway." He jumps up from the root and tries to brush off his robes as he talks. "Besides, I wouldn't say nobody else likes you. You're alright in my book." He offers her a smile as he finishes. "I really should get going, though. I have a load of essays to work on."
"Thanks," says Fiona quietly. She pulls her hand away from her hair, having undone one of her plaits. "It was nice meeting you Dean."
Niko nods to Dean as he leaves, "Take it easy Dean." he says slowly with a small nod.
Dean tips his derby hat to each of them before hefting up his violin case. "Take care you two." He says it more pointedly at Fiona than Niko. He gives them both a grin before making his way back to the castle, slipping off the hat before he gets near the walls.
k a lot about Bobbyjoe could be tagged "re:bobbyjoe".