(1938-10-18) Being Safe
Details for Being Safe
Summary: Angelus talks to Elspeth about keeping his cousin safe, while her and Noalan have a project that needs working on.
Date: October 18, 1938
Location: Potions Classroom, Hogwarts
Related:
Characters
ElspethAngelusNoalan

Potions had been his last class of the day, and of course, Angelus had decided to stay after class to prep a little more for the next class. His book strap is slung over his shoulder as he exits the classroom, stopping to rest his shoulder against the threshold as he simply considers, looking up and down the corridor. The handle of his wand is just barely visible poking out of a holster made specifically for a wand, worn underneath his outer cloak. On the end of the blue vanity handle dangles a triangular pendant. It’s displayed, just not around his neck like other members.

Having a potions project to complete by Monday, and being obliged to go to Hogsmeade as Prefect to keep an eye on other students, Elspeth had been promised to meet Lan after classes were done. She was caught up on the way, so she's hurrying down the dungeon corridor towards the classroom, redoing a quick ponytail as she walks. When she spots the younger Eibon there instead, she slows. When her eyes catch the triangle, she stops momentarily.

As Angelus makes a decision and starts to step from the doorway, an eyebrow arches as his blue eyes land on Elspeth. “Elspeth,” he greets her warmly and by her first name. “Oh, perfect, save me the trouble of looking for you.” The youth steps more quickly away from the classroom to approach his brother’s friend hurriedly. An arm quickly sweeps around so that he can rest a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her a nudge back into the potions classroom. “Can I talk to you?”

The use of her first name, and the warmth of tone coming from not just Angelus, but an Angelus wearing the symbol of the Magijugend alarms Elspeth enough that she stiffens as he joins her walking into the potions classroom. She flinches slightly as his hand comes up to her shoulder. "What are you needing to talk about with me?" she asks, her eyes on him the entire time, her hands gripping the strap of her satchel just a little tighter.

Once Angelus steps back into the potions classroom, this time escorting Elspeth, he draws his hand away from her. He swings the book strap down from his shoulder to lay his books on the floor to the side of the door, which he shuts. When he turns to face her he offers her a courteous smile. “Thanks,” he starts off. “It’s about my cousin. I’m worried about her, and I know you and her are friends.”

"Evelyn? What is- wrong with Evelyn?" she asks, freezing, although she does try to keep her distance once the arm has dropped from her. She darts a glance to the closed door, but she isn't worried enough to reach for her wand, yet.

Angelus arches a brow as he regards her. “She’s fine,” he reassures. “At least, she should be.” He frowns, giving that statement some thought as he leans his shoulder against the wall. “/Has/ anyone been bothering her?” His tone is protective as he asks, even if he may be younger.

Slowly, as she listens to Angelus, the Ravenclaw Prefect settles. Her demeanor becomes more stoic, in a way almost resigned as she understands what he is alluding to. "She is being fine," Elspeth doesn't bother to fix her English as she fixes her hazel gaze on him. "No one has been bothering her."

Angelus dips his head in a couple of nods, clearly satisfied by that answer. “Oh good,” he responds off-handedly. He straightens away from the wall, his blue eyes focused on Elspeth. He lets out a soft sigh and asks, “Will you keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t start getting bothered?” He frowns, a worried look as his eyes briefly flick away from his brother’s friend, but returns quickly. “Why aren’t you in the Mud Club? Is it because of Noah?” he asks curiously.

"Are you thinking Lan would not like me or be upset if I was being in Miss Crocker's Club?" Elspeth asks curiously, something in her stance suggesting that she's been expecting the question. She shakes her head. "I was against the club being formed from the beginning. Such clubs are not for bringing people together, no matter what the people who create them are saying. They are for excluding people, and they are only causing trouble."

Angelus lets out an amused ‘heh,’ followed by a short chuckle. “No, he definitely likes you either way.” He shakes his head before lifting his chin a bit. “I mean that you can see his predicament since you’re a friend. Staying neutral?” Though the youth is aware that’s probably difficult for her seeing as she’s a Muggle-born. He hums as he listens to her, nodding his head. When she finishes explaining, he lets out a sigh before saying, “How is it you understand it better than Evie does? You should talk to her, maybe she’ll understand it’s more than just a support group.”

"Everyone is needing to find their own way, and find things out for themselves," Elspeth answers, not even blushing when Angelus claims that Lan likes her no matter what. "I am not understanding better, that is being what I am thinking." Pulling the strap of her satchel over her shoulder so that she can set it down on the desk and begin taking out her books. "Why are you wanting her to not be in the Club? Are you wanting her to join your Club? So she can exclude different people?"

The door to the potions room creaks as it is pushed open ahead of an entering Slytherin. One would expect a Slytherin to be on time for a meeting in the potions room, but things do come up. Who would have expected him to talk to Gage for that long? "Sorry I'm late." He says, before spotting all the occupants of the room. "Ah, not really a surprise you're bumming around down here." Lan says, addressing his brother.

Angelus arches a brow as he regards Elspeth inquisitively. “I want her to stay out of things, if she can.” He touches his tongue to his lips briefly, shaking his head. “I dislike all the excluding people are doing.” His blue eyes flick to the door when it opens, and there is a brief frown as his brother enters before a smile slips across his lips. “Noah,” he greets, stepping over to him. “Are you going to Hogsmeade later?”

"It is all right," Elspeth says a little carefully in the way she has when she's working at being correct in her grammar, although she gives him a little smile. "I was just getting my things ready." As for Angelus, her gaze levels on him. "I am not sure it is being fair to tell people to stay out of things when you are in them yourself," she says quietly, her gaze dropping pointedly to the triangle he carries. "Evelyn's mother was muggleborn. I think she wants to do what she would hope someone would do for her mother. She would stand up for her mother. I cannot tell her she should not do that."

Noalan shrugs, "Well I have to, don't I? They wouldn't want a little third year like you to get a splinter and not have someone responsible around to know how much to amputate." Lan says back, keeping his tone mild. As much as he likes tweaking his brother, he's got dangerous friends now. He doesn't say anything when she starts talking about his aunt, instead, moving over to set his bag down next to her. It's not really something they talk about, even Lan.

Angelus smirks in response to Noalan. “So why are you going?” he asks, arching an eyebrow as he lets out a ‘heh.’ He flicks his gaze back to Elspeth when she starts speaking to him again. At the mention of his aunt there’s a brief frown and a glimmer in his eyes, but it is gone within a second. “She doesn’t have to be in a club to stand up for her mother,” says the youth, addressing her as Evelyn’s mother instead of his aunt. “Even the Magijugend takes in half-bloods.” His eyes trail after Noalan as he moves to the table before Angelus turns and steps over to the wall connected to the doorway, picking up his book strap and swinging it around and over his shoulder. But he isn’t leaving quite yet, resting his shoulder against the frame, his other hand resting against the closed door behind him. “I’ll leave you guys too it then,” he says, gesturing with his head at their bags. “First, I should warn you that I overheard a couple of students were going to the forest’s edge to duel this evening.”

Elspeth has no more words for Angelus, she simply watches him lean, giving him a little nod when he says he'll leave them to their work. She opens her book and reads the ingredients, and begins gathering them, placing her cauldron on a burner to ready it.

"Let them in as a sacrifice?" Lan asks, unpacking his things, "Sounds like something you should tell a teacher. I wouldn't want to deprive you the points you'd get from helping out. I know Gryffindor is still in the negative range too. Maybe you can be the zero that gets them to zero…" He looks away, then very belatedly says, "I mean hero… of course."

Angelus lifts an eyebrow as he regards Elspeth, humming thoughtfully before he sighs. His gaze slips onto his brother when he speaks. “Do you always have to believe in the worst, Noah?” Angelus inquires, frowning, looking a little insulted. “No one would sacrifice Celes,” he says, his tone sounding rather protective. A warning look is sent to his brother, as if daring him to make another remark. There’s actually a moment where surprise flashes across his face, at least for a fraction of a second, apparently stunned by his protectiveness. A smirk plays across his face about finding a teacher and being the zero, rolling his shoulders casually. “Isn’t that what prefects are for? Another set of eyes for the professors? Clearly I’m going to have to find another prefect that will actually do their job. I’ll be sure to tell Flint,” he says as his hand slides over the door to the knob, and opens it as he turns his back on them. He pauses for a minute, lowering his head as he considers, and then exits, leaving the door ajar as he walks down the corridor.

Elspeth shakes her head as Angelus leaves, but she says nothing for a little longer. She glances up to the open door, then over to Lan. One eyebrow raises, and she goes over and shuts the door. She doesn't /look/ into the hall, any more than is seen from the inside as she closes it. Giving a sigh as she leans against it, she gives a shake to her head. She pushes away and heads back across the room. "We are going to be demoted no matter what we are doing," she says quietly, returning to the desk where she picks up her book to go over to the closets and start taking out supplies. "Evelyn is struggling, not that he is honestly caring for her."

Noalan nods, closing up his bag and flipping his potion book open. "Short of escorting him to a teacher to have him tell them, I don't know what the best response would be to him. The little weasel has certainly gained some influence. Probably what he was hoping for." He doesn't look up from the book as he flips pages, "Is that why she joined? I can't see that helping much."

Angelus left the room, but after a couple of steps he leans up against the wall and lets out a sigh. He pinches the bridge of his nose momentarily as he shakes his head. He looks back at the door, watching it expectantly until there’s a hand and the door closes. The youth steps back over to the door, but with lighter footsteps as he returns, and leans up against the door to listen.

Elspeth is quiet, then she looks up to Lan, her voice still quiet and probably not likely to be heard distinctly through a dungeon type door. "I like that plan. As prefects, we are bringing it to the attention of a teacher. Then, if he is telling us a story to try and make us go to the forest edge and get in trouble, we are calling his bluff, if he is telling the truth, we are bringing it to the attention of a teacher, along with the source of the information." She sets the things on the table next to their cauldrons. "I am not being entirely sure. Evelyn is… she is not forgetting that she is having a muggle born mother, and a muggle born friend. But she is worrying that she might also upset her uncle." She expels a long breath. "Perhaps if more purebloods were being friends with her when we were first years, and not being mean or ignoring her because she is being shy and stutters at times, she would not be having a close friend who is muggle born. She would not have been needing me so much."

"Speaking of plans. I have one to discuss with you eventually, I'm working on a 'surprise party' and need some helpers." He says, but is distracted off that line of talk when Evelyn is explained, "He's stern certainly, but I don't think she has to worry that much…" He pauses, unsure if the next part is a positive or negative, "I don't think he cares about her or Dryden that much. There's a sense of obligation there, but…" He waves his hand vaguely in the air. "I don't think he really thinks of them as family." He says, knowing how hurtful that could be. "Not that I doubt for a second he isn't using her being a member of the club to his advantage if he has dealings with muggle born or half-blood wizards. He's a purist, but a business man at heart. It's hard to sell people things if they think you hate them."

Angelus presses his ear closer to the door as he can barely hear anything. His tongue slips out to touch his top lip, listening on the outside and frowning. If he had a spell for eavesdropping – no, /overhearing/ - he would so use it right now. It’s for the greater good, after all. Two rebels, alone, plotting on overthrowing the Emperor – he’s just doing his duty. He presses closer to the door as Lan starts to speak, confused certainly as the whole story is missed. Come on, what surprise party? For who? Angelus wonders.

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