| Details for Cake and Apples |
| Summary: | Alphard comes across Andromena and Grace who are sharing some cake, and offers life lesson, advice and secrets. Free of charge. No, not really. He's just being a dick. |
| Date: | 1938-10-28 |
| Location: | Entrance Hall then Library |
| Related: | After Cake |
| Characters |
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« If someone can add the earlier posts, do so! »
"Did you get yourself a piece as well?" Andromena asks. She doesn't /need/ cake, but if the child is hungry, she shoul be the one to eat…hrm, right? Tht waddle certainly bespoke of plenty of eating, after all. "We can split this if you would like?"
"I did have a little bit," Grace admits, lying being somewhat beyond her limited mental capabilities. "But it's really nice. You'll like it! Try some!"
"Certainly," Andromena says, taking the cake (hopefully upon a napkin or plate?) she eyes the non-nibbled side. Is there a fork anywhere in sight? Being the dainty little creature she is, Andromena is not about to use her /hands/ to eat the cake with.
Grace licks her fingers having handed over the cake. No napkin. No plate. A few dents where pudgy fingers held it. "If you close your eyes when you eat it, you can pretend you're anywhere," she advises solemnly.
"Meanie, stop being abusive to the fat little first year before I feel obliged to send for a Prefect!" Alphard's voice came drifting over, mock stern. The tall Black was just coming in from the fall chill outside, unwinding his Slytherin scarf from around his neck as he walked. He wasn't so much approaching the pair as he was aiming to pass them and continue on with his day. "Really, I thought better of you than such wanton cruelty. Wasn't your plan to become a healer?"
Oh dear…Andromena now holds the cake within her hand, staring at it. She tries to hide her disapproval from the younger girl. She was only being nice, after all. But…she had touched it. Bitten into it. They did not know one another well enough to share food in such a manner! Gently, very gently, Andromena began to…Alphard's voice drew a chill finger up her spine, and the Ravenclaw dropped the cake to the floor. She mentally cursed.
"I'm sorry," she says hurriedly to Grace. Shoulders hunched, she turns to Alphard, just coming up behind her. "The cake was for me," she retorts, somewhat coolly. After all, he /had/ ditched her last night.
Grace blinks at Alphard. "I'm big boned," she automatically replies, then shakes her head. "She wasn't being mean, though. Andromena's really nice. We were having cake." Because that explains everything. She does glance to the floor, correcting, "We had cake. I can go and get some more?" she offers hopefully.
"Hah, I knew it. You were thinking the same thing as me!" Alphard laughed when Andromena took his meaning immediately. It wasn't a very nice laugh, not very nice at all. Nor was the look he gave Gracie particularly kind, for all he tried to draw his features into something approaching sympathy. "No. Whoever said that lied to you. You're just fat. Perhaps if you didn't stuff your face with cake like a little pig, you wouldn't look like one, hrm?" All of it delivered with a sugary sweet tone of voice. He'd even leaned down a little, like a concerned upperclassman trying to connect with the shorter first year.
Andromena stares aghast at Alphard. She knew he was known for being a bully, but Grace was just a child. What gained he by being mean to her? She looks to Grace, feeling sorry for the girl, and moves to stand slightly in front of her. She had been about to reach for something to clean her hand with, but it now hangs slightly away from her for now. "Alphard," she snaps. "There are plenty of people to be cruel to your own age. Grace is just a girl." Though shorter, she casts her gaze up defiantly.
Grace chews on her lip, puzzled. "Um. Thank you," she hazards towards Alphard. After all, the tone was kind, so he must have been being nice, right? For her own good. "He didn't mean to be nasty," she insists to Andromena. "He's trying to help."
Alphard met Andromena's defiant stare with a narrow eyed look of his own, as if considering whether she fit the bill of one of those people his own age he should transfer his inate cruelty towards. But he didn't. Instead he straightened up with a dramatic sigh. "Come on. I was just giving her a bit of life advice." His dark eyes cut over Andromena's shoulder to fix onto Gracie. "That's right. I was just trying to be friendly and give one of our new fellow Hogwartians a better start. You wouldn't believe how cruel some of our students can be. It just you sad." It didn't take a genious to detect the derision that swam through his dishonest apology. With a shrug he reached into his robes, and plucked out a monogrammed white hankerchief. His arm stretched in Andromena's direction, offering it so she had something to clean up her soiled hand with. It came with a look and smirk, too. How wasted was that moment of heroic decency on her part, huh?
Andromena accepted the kerchief with a sullen look, saying thank you before turning to peer at Grace. Did she really believe what she had just said about Alphard, or was she merely using that as a means of defense? "Fruits and vegetables are a better snack option than cake," she offers lamely. What was she supposed to do here? Grace seemed to believe Alphard mean no harm, and Black, well…"I guess I am just too sensitive," she says, offering the kerchief back, rife with chocolately crumbs.
Grace's eyes widen and her mouth forms an O as realisation strikes. Or something like that. "Ohh! I can get you an apple if you want, instead?" She turns a tentative smile towards Alphard. "Would you like an apple or some cake? Or some apple cake! Best of both worlds! You're probably just grumpy because you're hungry."
"Ugh. No. You keep that." With a wrinkled nose the Black boy immediately waved his hankerchief away, as if the very thought of putting that somewhere back in a pocket was repulsive. "A gift from me to my favorite storybook maiden. Don't worry about it. Storybook maidens are always too sensitive. It's why they can't do anything without fainting." He glanced back towards Grace when she addressed him, frowning the same sort of frown he'd been giving his soiled hankerchief. "You know.. there's this apple tree by the greenhouses. It has the best purple apples in the world. But only first years can ever see it. I so miss those first year apples. Could you do me the biggest favor in the world and get me some? You'd be my best friend forever."
Now she couldn't just drop it on the ground like she had the cake, could she? Alphard would likely take offense, but *she* didn't want the the thing in her pockets. It was perhaps one of the lamest gifts she had ever received. After her crazy aunt's sweater than she had personally knitted, that is. "Purple apples," she voiced aloud, brows knitting together.
Grace nods as she listens, then gives Alphard a huge smile. "I'll go and get you some. Just wait here," she promises, waddling off in the direction of the greenhouses.
"So, making friends with First Years, huh?" Alphard asked with a cruel and self satisfied smirk as he watched Grace waddle off. He wasn't going to wait around for the non existant purple apples to arrive to him, so without even a hint of shame or guilt he strode towards the grand moving staircase. "I was gonna head to the Library, want to join?"
"You cannot be serious," Andromena breathes, watching Grace wander off in search of something that never existed! The right thing to do was stop her, but as she looked toward Alpard, an unusual…need assailed her. Before, she had never felt like having friends matters. Over night, it seemed as if being alone had become unbearable. And while Grace was a nice girl…Alphard was someone she could actually communicate with! Heaving a sad sigh, Andromena sauntered after the Slytherin, so much like an obedient puppy.