(1939-01-21) Chocolate Plots
Details for Chocolate Plots
Summary: The Pirates induct new members and make "secret" plans for St. Valentine's Day and ways to bring unity to the student body at Hogwarts.
Date: 1939-01-21
Location: Hogwarts Castle, Great Hall
Related: None.
Characters
GabrielCillianMadelineAdamElizabeth

Gabriel is sitting at the long Ravenclaw table in a now empty Great Hall since dinner has come and gone. In front of the frustrated looking little Ravenclaw are a multitude of books on spells, many of them focused on Tranfiguration. "How DO they do it..?"

Okay, so after dinner, Cillian has finished his homework…and somebody else's homework and he's leaning backwards a bit, to idly tug a piece of paper out from somebody's satchel before he carefully takes the piece of paper and tears a little piece off of the parchment, rolling it up into a ball and peering over curiously at Gabriel, taking the ball and tossing it towards the other boy.

Gabriel lets out a low "Ack!" As the paper ball finds its mark. He jerks upright, looking for where the ball came from and, in the process, sends a small tower of books sprawling along the table. Spotting Cillian at the Gryffindor table he smiles and waves, "Ahoy Cap'n! I thought I was all alone."

Cillian's lips curve in a small smile as he winks his good eye, flashing a grin and shaking his head before taking a deep breath as he peers down at the completed parchments and then over towards Gabriel. "Nope! Unfortunatley we 'ave to keep workin' intot he dark dark hours of the evening." He sticks out his tongue.

Gabriel waves the other second year to join him at the Ravenclaw table, "Come here! I have a plan for something special we can do for Saint Valentine's day!" And as soon as he says it he frowns lightly and starts gathering up the books he accidentally tossed around, "If I can figure out how they do it…"

Cillian snatches up his canvas goodie bag and his leather satchel and makes his way oger to where Gabriel is, kneeling a bit on the bench beside him and looking over his shoulder with a soft hmm. "I was lookin' up 'appy like potions and tings to make the chocolate yummier for this day…what 'ave ye been workin' up?" He asks curiously. "Last year I wrote love poems as well for the overly sappy."

Gabriel motions at his books and growls a little bit, "Well, I've been trying to figre out how they animate chocolate frogs. That way we can make a lot of different chocolate animals then animate them and give them out like little gifts, all secret and surprise like." He describes his plans in a low, half-whisper to make sure they're not overheard by anyone that might walk by in the mostly empty Great Hall.

Sometimes you just need a quiet place to read - this is one of those days. Madeline makes her way into the great hall, a book under her arm, glancing around for- ooo! The Cap'n and Gunny!
She had been headed towards one end of the Gryffindor table, but she changes directions, heading towards the two friends instead. Whatever funk she had been in the day before at dinner seems to have passed as she greets the two with a smile. "Hi! I was gonna read. Can I sit with you?"

Cillian keeps his head bowed as well, so he can speak softly to Gabriel, tilting his head to the side. "I tink then we need to be lookin' in books of famous cooks and candy makers first, then we can be studyin' history of any of 'em at hogwarts and how they be likin' tings…" He frowns and then looks up when he hears the girl's voice and his eyebrows shoot up. "Oi! Of course." He moves to close the book in front of Gabriel off handly. "Come and sit luv, 'ow are ye feelin' today?"

Gabriel takes the books in front of him, including the one that Cillian just closed and stacks them on the bench next to him both clearing a space for Madeline and conveniently putting the books out of sight, "You're always welcome, Madeline." Turning to Cillian he asks, "Hey Cap'n, do we have space on the crew still?"

"Loads better. Sorry about yesterday, Cap'n, I was just having a lousy day," Madeline explains, making a face at the memory. "Guess it doesn't matter." Yes, yes it really does, but she can't fix it.
She sets down her books as she sits. 'Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.' "Are you studying?" she asks curiously. "About medicine and stuff again?" she asks Gabriel curiously.

"Aye, she's already a shoe in to be joinin' the crew iffen she wants to." Cillian replies, reaching into his goodie bag to pull out a small chocolate bar to offer to Madeline before tossing a second one at Gabriel. "Aye, he's not only our Gunny but when we get a bigger ship. he's gonna officially be the ship's doctor as well. He's very smart like that."

Gabriel grins at Cillian's praise but answers Madeline first, "I was studying. But I was doing some extra work on Charms and other spells this time around." He pats the books at his side like other people would pat a pet dog while he continues, "So one thing we try to do is something special for holidays. Any ideas on what we could do for Saint Valentine's Day?"

"She?" Madeline asks, looking between the two. "She, me?" the girl asks curiously. "I wouldn't mind more friends - that's for sure - but only if Adam's welcome, too. I'd feel awful bad leaving Adam out."
"Valentine's Day?" the girl asks in a thoughtful tone. "A giiiiant sparkling heart in the Great Hall would be /so neat/!"

Cillian just hmms softly. "Aye! Adam's welcomed as well." He flashes a grin before ahhing softly at her idea and he purses his lips. "We can try to 'ave another chocolate party of sorts…it was fun last year, all for Valentines day…we'd 'ave to begin work on the heart though early."

Gabriel tilts his head a bit to the side as he considers the idea of Adam joining the Pirates but before he can give his opinion Cillian has given his veredict. So instead he moves on to the St. Valentine's plans, "That's a really good idea, Madeline! But we need to figure out how to make that work." To Cillian he says, "We can do more than that this time. We can make little cherubs and maybe little doves or little lovebirds. And puppies and kittens made out of chocolate too. Make it really special!"

"Great!" Madeline exclaims brightly, beaming at the pair. "Is there a way to make a giiiiiant sparkling heart with magic? I bet there is! I wonder if there's any good books in the library! I should go look!" Leaving her book behind, she jumps up from the table to run across the Hall. "Maybe I'll even run into /Adam/!" she adds excitedly before disappearing out the door. Yeah. She's fine, again.

Cillian hmms softly and tilts his head to the side as he listens between the two very carefully and he narrows his eyes but still smiles as he just nods thoughtfully at everything offered before looking to Gabriel when Madeline goes running off. He nudges his shoulder. "Alright doc, diagnosis of the potential potential new recruits…" He needs to know his own crew's opinion.

Gabriel watches Madeline dash out, chuckling a little bit to himself at her exhuberance. "I like Madeline. She's friendly, happy, and willing to step up to help others." Then he looks up at the ceiling for a moment while he thinks about Adam. "I don't really know Adam all that well but he seems nice and really eager about… Well, everything. And Madeline likes him so that's a good sign there too."

Cillian hmms and listens as he reaches back over to snatch up a book from Gabriel's piles, giving a small nod. "We'll see 'ow it goes then." A pause. "We 'ave to make sure this Valentine's day, folks don't forget it…too many bad tings happened over the last two years or so."

Gabriel nods,"That's why I was thinking about chocolate animals." Digging through his stack he pulls out a standard cookbook and opens it up to a page on working with chocolate. "See, making the molds is easy. Its animating them that I'm finding hard to find out how to do. So what do you think, just general cute animals or should we do house mascots, maybe with little heart necklaces?"

"Aye, we already make the molds and such with the chocolate, we 'ave the recipes that'll be good. I tink…hmm, we can do bracelets and necklaces with hearts, we've done 'em before just not animated." Cillian frowns and tugs a piece of parchment from his bag. "Ye figure out how to animate 'em, and let me know what's needed and I'll figure out 'ow to make the chocolate better…"

Gabriel nods in agreement with Cillian then stops to think for a moment, chewing lightly on the corner of his lip. "I heard the Divination class was planning something too. Something about giving out glasses… Do we want to see if we can join forces? Or do we want to make this a Pirates only project?"

It's rather quiet in the Great Hall, presently. The majority of the students having already drifted to their respected houses with only a few lingering behind. One exception is Elizabeth, however, one hand holding open the pages of a book while she every once in a while takes a bite from her plate or a drink from a warm mug of pumpkin juice.

Cillian tenses up at the mention of Divination and he closes his eye(s) for a moment before clearing his throat and giving a small nod to Gabriel. "We can be talkin' to them for a bit, but the best bits, we keep to ourselves."

Gabriel's laugh at Cillian's last comment is mch louder than the hushed voices the two young boys have been talking in at the opposite end of the Ravenclaw table than the one Elizabeth is sitting at. Returning to the hushed tones he says, "Well, of course. We could give them chocolates to give out with whatever their doing and not tell them the secret about the chocolates, for example."

Down the grand staircase and into the great hall comes Mr. Pomp-and-Circumstance himself, Gresham Ollivander, back straight, hair slicked back, all the usual. Draco Malfoy in all but name and general demeanor. Slytherin he may be, but he's no self-centered prat.

Gresham proceeds to find an off-the-beaten-path spot to set camp, and begins setting out his learning tools: books, scrolls, various classwork-related items.

It didn't take Madeline long, it seems, to dash up to the third floor and back. She has a small handful of books - and one Adam Irving in tow. She dumps the books (which seem to mostly be about art) in front of Gabriel and Cillian, huffing a little before announcing, "I think I found some good ones!"
More quietly she adds, "I told Madam Patil that I wanted to decorate my books with sparkly flowers and stuff. She said these ones would do. I thought - maybe if we could get a big piece of cloth we could transfigure it or do some charms or something - so the Professors don't get all made about us messing with the wall."

The Ravenclaw girl chew calmly as she reads, every now and then idly glancing up from the pages to observe the hall. The few on the other end of her table whispering to each other. And it just so happens on this occasion that she catches sight of Gabriel. Her pale eyes pause as she watches him with passive curiosity as he takes a seat and begins to 'set up shop'. "Almost as bad as a Ravenclaw…" Elizabeth murmurs lightly to herself.

Cillian is hunched over, eyeing Gabriel as he speaks and then nodding in quiet agreement. "Very well I-" Then LOOK A PILE OF NEW BOOKS! And the little Captain just arches an eyebrow and looks suitably impressed.

When Madeline told him what she was planning, Adam wasn't sure he wanted to follow. But she's his friend, so he did. He stands next to her with his hands folded in front of him, looking at the books she just brought with apprehension. In his opinion the next four weeks can't be over quick enough. Remembering himself a moment later, he smiles at Cillian and Gabriel and says, "Hi! Maddie said something about being pirates now?"

Gabriel starts to unwrap the chocolate bar Cillian gave him a little while ago. Glancing over the books Madeline has just dropped in front of them he smiles and nods, "Well, that's clearly a starting point." Then he smiles a little bit bigger at Adam and asks Cillian, "Do you want to make the offer, Cap'n?"

"/Shhhh/, pirates are sneaky, I think," Madeline whispers at her friend as she sits. Seeing Gabriel opening his chocolate bar, her eyes light up. "Ooo! Good idea!" Hers is opened in turn and snapped in half, with half being offered to Adam. Share and share alike. /Then/ she bites into the chocolate, and opens the first book. "I think it'd be neat to /transfigure/ the cloth, and make it pink and sparkly through and through. But maybe it could be both? You transfigure it pink, and then put a sparkly charm on it? Adam's good at transfigurations, but I'm not." She keeps her voice lowered as she talks, and flips through the book.

Elizabeth doesn't mind the hushed tones and whispering going on several feet away, though her pale eyes do occasionally glance up over the edge of her book to glance in the direction of the gathered group. If Madeline and Adam were involved, no doubt there was mischief soon to follow.

Cillian is carefully slipping out another bar of chocolate and setting it down near where Adam settles down as he smiles a bit watching his 'crew'. "We'd like to know iffen ye both want to officially become pirates." He reaches into his goodie bag and looks around suspiciously before holding out two coins on the palm of his hand for them to take, silvery coins. "Take one."

Adam's eyes widen. "Oh," he whispers back to Madeline. "Sorry." He shoots a worried look towards the two official pirates and then sits down as he takes the half of the chocolate bar his friend offers him. "Thanks," he murmurs. "Oh, yeah! I love Transfiguration. I can make something a different color, easy! Never made things sparkle before, but I can try that too." When he sees Elizabeth looking their way from the other end of the table, he turns to her and gives her a friendly wave. "Hi, Elizabeth!" Oh, they're supposed to be sneaky. Abashed, he turns back to the table, but his eyes light up at Cillian's offer. "Wow, really? Yeah! That'd be amazing!" He reaches out for one of the coins and inspects it, curious. "What's this for?"

Gabriel pulls out a red, well-used criquet ball from his robe's pocket and starts tossing it from hand to handWhile he follows the conversation happening in his group. When Adam says hi to Elizabeth he turns to wave to her as well, giving her a big smile in the process, "Alright, Dweedle? Would you like some chocolate? Cap'n's reserve?" He shows her the bar in his hand, which is missing a few chunks already. which has the coincidental effect of his body blocking from view the exchange of coins that's taking place.

Madeline grins at the official offer, reaching over to pick up one of the coins and inspect it curiously. "Gee, thanks!" she tells Cillian brightly - briefly forgetting her own admonishment that 'pirates are sneaky.' She looks abashed for a moment, until it occurs to her just what an innocuous statement that was. Probably fine.

Elizabeth glances up again, blinking as she's spotted by Adam waving quite happily in her direction. Or the offer of chocolate. Though it's something that's actually said that gives her pause, before she sets the still open book in her lap and lifts a slender brow at the group. "'Captain'?" she repeats the word, mildly curious of the reference.

He keeps his voice low as he looks btween the new recruits and nods a bit. "Ye dun show those to anybody but other pirates. If ye ever need another one of us, just kiss the coin…and we'll know." Cillian then clears his throat as Gabriel provided the cover necessary as he selects a nice chocolate bar in a golden wrapper and makes his way over to Elizabeth, kneeling down before her and offering the bar. "Had I a hat, me lady, I would remove it…please, take it, from me reserve."

Adam notices the new chocolate bar Cillian set out for him. "Oh, thanks!" he says. Instead of thinking to give Madeline her half back, he takes the new one and snaps it in half as well. "Here you go," he says to her, pushing one of the halves her way as he listens to Cillian explain the coins. "Kiss it?" he asks, not understanding. "And you'll know? What does that mean?" He looks down at the coin, but then he sees Elizabeth looking their way and he hastily closes his hand over it and hides it from sight.

"Whoa… That's neat," Madeline breathes out, looking at the coin curiously before slipping it into her pocket. She grins at Adam, taking the offered half-bar, then glances over at Cillian and Elizabeth and lets out a giggle. /See/? That's how to do things!
Suddenly, the girl is bounding to her feet and moving over to the older student. "Elizabeth! I had the /greatest idea/! I thought - well, maybe I could tell the whole Mud Club, but I thought I'd tell you first and see what you think. I bet you'll just love it!"

Gabriel chuckles at Mad's reaction to Cillian's little show, "Chivalry is Cillian's by-word. He's always like that with maidens." Then he goes back to enjoying his own chocolate bar since Cillian has made it unnecessary for him to share it.

Suddenly, Elizabeth is rather popular, catching her by surprise as Cillian approaches and actually kneels. She pauses another moment, a hand reach up to absently brush back some of the waves in her raven hair from her face as she watches the boy, genuinely confused. Reaching out, she lightly takes the offered chocolate bar, though before she has a chance to say anything further, Madeline is bounding her way towards them. Behind her wire frames, her powder blue eyes blink again, "'Greatest idea'?" Elizabeth asks. Not even a clue what this might be about. Though her expression softens and her cherry stained lips part, "Alright. Tell me your idea."

Cillian is able to tuck and dive into a flip/roll out of the way when Madeline comes running over and he quickly makes his his way back over to the other boys, plopping down on the bench and sighing softly with a shake of his head. "We're gonna need a special hideout soon…"

"Okay. See. /First/ we get as big a list of important Muggle-born wizards and witches as we can. People that invented great spells, or potions, or are amazing Quidditch players, or writers, or politicians or /something/. Maybe even Headmasters! Then everybody makes a poster for one of the people. They draw 'em, and write their name, and what they did. That's it. Not that they're Muggle-born or anything. Just - lots of posters of important witches and wizards showing up. That's /Step One/." Madeline blathers it all out excitedly, with animated hand gestures.
Oh, God. There's more than one step.

Adam tucks the coin into a pocket and glances over at Cillian. "Always?" he asks Gabriel, surprised. He watches the three of them as he munches on one of his chocolate bar halves, and then grins as Cillian rejoins them. "That'd be great!" he says, lowering his voice again and leaning over to him and Gabriel. "So, what're we supposed to do? Y'know, now that we're pirates?"

Gabriel has his mouth full of chocolate so when he tries to answer all that comes out is, "Mphmmmhmphmmph!" before he gives up and waves to Cillian for an answer to Adam's question…

Cillian has to laugh softly. "Very good response gunny. Mostly we just eh…'elp to take care of others, tink of ways to make sure we can protect the school and other people from being bullied…spread joy and fun to all those who come here." A pause. "And…well…then also there's the adventures…"

The way Madeline starts off… Elizabeth frowns with a little bit of concern. "What, Madeline…" she says with a soft voice. "I'm not sure what you are wanting to do, but I don't think just doing posters of Muggle-born or mix-blooded Witches and Wizards is necessarily a good idea. We should be proud of who we are, yes, but we shouldn't purposefully separate ourselves from those that just happened to be pureblooded either."

Adam bursts into a fit of laughter at Gabriel's reply. Swallowing his own mouthful of chocolate, he turns to Cillian with an eager nod. He's about to answer the first part when the Captain mentions adventures, and then he sits up in his seat. "Adventures?" he says, almost forgetting to keep his voice down in his excitement. "What kinds of adventures?"

"It's not about separating, though!" Madeline says, trying to remain enthusiastic in the face of Elizabeth's doubt. "See, then after the poster's been up a while - we take them down. We put up a list of all the names we found instead, all over the place, and the bottom it says 'Muggle-born is not an insult.' You see?"
More quietly she adds, "I'm just tired of people using the word 'Muggle' or 'Muggle-born' like it's a bad thing…"

Gabriel is distracted from the conversation with Adam and Cillian by Madeline's enthusiasm. "You know, maybe picking a mix of Muggle born, half-blood, and pure-blood wizards and witches that have done great things might be a good idea. Show the school that we're all the same inside, no matter where we come from. And then the list could say something like Muggle-born is not an insult because we are /all/ magical inside!"

Cillian pumps a fist in the air and nods in agreement. "Liiike Bonbons!" A pause. "Or…maybe Oreos…"

Adam glances over at Madeline and Elizabeth and then looks back to the table. He doesn't feel like talking about blood status right now, so he eats his chocolate in silence and tries to think of what sorts of adventures he might get to go on as a pirate.

"Having pride in yourself is not a bad thing, but it's especially important to empathize that we are stronger together, rather than divided." Elizabeth glances to Gabriel, her expression softening as she dips her chin with a small nod. "We are all the same."

Gabriel returns to his conversation with the boys after giving his suggested modifications for Maddie's plan. "Well, we've defended Fair Maidens before. And we've been pitted against Evil Princesses, both #1 and #2. Even if #2 really wasn't all that much trouble. And we've searched for hidden treasure and invisible ships… We do all sorts of fun things!" Even if half of them are exaggerated in Gabe's memory files.

Cillian is very sober for a few moments as he looks down for a moment and then back up to Gabriel. "We…We…I will tell ye about the shadow later Gabriel it…it is very important, our adventures are going to get more excitin'…"

"You think?" Madeline asks, not sounding at all certain or convinced. "I mean. I /do/ think we're all the same, it's just… I feel like lots of 'em 'll just ignore the Muggle-born names, and the Muggle-born posters. Or tear 'em down to leave just the pureblood posters or… or… I dunno."

"Wow," Adam says, staring at Gabriel. "Did you really? Did you find any? Treasure or invisible ships, I mean. I want to be a curse-breaker when I'm done with school. That's kind of like a treasure hunter!" He looks to Cillian, curious. "Shadow? What's that? Why're things going to get more exciting?" He glances between the two pirates and grins. "Or are only gunnies allowed to know?"

Gabriel keeps hopping back and forth between conversations. After giving Cillian a concerned look when he goes uncharacteristically somber he nods, "Exciting can be good." then moves on to call out to the girls, "We can jinx the posters so if anyone damages them they get a case of the never ending bogeys or something like that. Or… Isn't there a permanent glue charm? That would make it really hard to take them down." Not to mention getting the whole group in massive trouble once Pringle finds out that the posters are permanently affixed to the walls…

Her stained lips part to reply to Madeline's concerned, but what parts Elizabeth has heard of the secondary conversation forces her powder blue eyes up to glance at the boys. "'Fair maidens' and 'evil princess'?" she repeats, lifting a brow again. Just what were they talking about?

"I think we'd get in trouble, Gunny," Madeline answers Gabriel. "Well, anyways," she adds towards Elizabeth, managing a smile. "I think it'd be a good idea. I guess we can just bring it up at the Mud Club and see what everyone else thinks." She starts to slide back to her seat with the other pirates - so she can eat some of her chocolate.

Cillian just facepalms a bit at all the ideas and has to chuckle softly, shaking his head slowly and tilting said head to the side. "Its…excitin' and scary, but Elise and Cathal and some others know about it, I just hope when ya'll meet the shadow, ye won't be scared. I haven't seen it since the holidays passed, but it'll be back." He lowers his voice. "Peter Pan doesn't like pirates." A shudder before he brightens back up. "No jinxin' tings…after ye say somethin' about jixin' something…please, we all 'ave avoided gettin' on Pringle's list for a reason."

"I won't be scared!" Adam declares, finding it difficult to be afraid of something he doesn't understand. He grins at Madeline when she sits back down with them. "We're going to get to go on adventures!" he tells her. "Looking for treasure, rescuing evil maidens. Or was it fair maidens? It's going to be fun!"

Gabriel starts packing his books up as he corrects Adam, "Fair maidens, evil princesses. And the support of friend makes us strong enough to face anything so bring on the shadows!" The last of his chocolate bars gets re-wrapped and disappears into a pocket of his pack as he gets to his feet, "Aye-aye Cap'n! No jinxing. I'll keep working on my research in the next few days but now I have to go take care of some History scrolls I need to write. Have a good night everyone!"

Madeline smiles at Adam, though it lacks some of her usual easy enthusiasm. "That'll be fun. I love adventures," she agrees, then raises a hand to wave to Gabriel. "Night, Gunny!"

Cillian gets to his feet when Gabriel is heading out and he looks back at where he was sitting and then down at his bag of books and murmurs softly softly under his breath that he's learned from his Da no doubt but he coughs and shakes his head. "Right then, we'll all be meetin' soon then…I'll bring the practice swords, we're getting a wee bit rusty anyways!" He looks to Adam and Madeline. "Welcome aboard mateys." He blows a kiss to Elizabeth before turning quickly and gathering his things so he can head out. He has people's homework to deliver.

The blown kiss… it makes Elizabeth blink. "Huh." She openly frowns as she glances back to Madeline and Adam, "What is all that about? The pirate talk? Adventures and rescuing 'fair maidens'?" she asks. "Practice swords?" Honestly, who has practice swords?

"Wow, swords?" Adam says. He waves to Gabriel and Cillian as they leave. "Bye! Thank you!" He glances sideways at Madeline at Elizabeth's question, remembering that they're supposed to be secretive. "Oh, it's just a bit of a joke," he says with an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders. "Y'know, playing outside and all that. Not really your sort of thing." He looks to his friend again, noticing her lack of usual enthusiasm. Something has been bothering him today, though he tried to ignore it, but he decides now to bring it up. "Have I ever threatened anyone?" he asks Madeline quietly.

"Yeah, what he said," Madeline agrees with Adam. "Just a joke. Plus, what kid didn't do stick fights and such?" she asks. Her gaze goes from Elizabeth, to Adam, her expression changing to one of confusion. "Um… No. No I don't think so."

Elizabeth isn't all that surprised by the sudden denial, or the change in topic. She merely lifts a slender brow at them with an even glance for a longer moment before she exhales a light breath. Closing the book in her lap, she tucks it beneath her arm as she sets down the mug she had been drinking out of. Instead of replying, she reaches out to lightly, affectionately rub at Adam's head. "I don't believe either of you for a moment. But be careful, okay?" Her expression softens and Elizabeth pulls back her hand, before she rises to her feet. At least they're having fun, that's the important part to her. She gives Madeline a light head rub as well in passing, before she exit the halls herself.

Adam looks at Madeline, serious. "You're sure?" he asks, concern in his voice. "Because someone accused me of complaining about things and wanting to change things and threatening anyone who didn't want to change." He frowns at the table. "I guess I've complained a bit, but I've never threatened anyone." He smiles up at Elizabeth, looking sheepish. "Okay," he says, and he waves to her. "I will. Bye."

"Hey!" Madeline protests as her hair is mussed. "My /braids/," she complains, trying to feel if too many stray strands were pulled free. She lets out a huff of air, then offers a, "Night, Elizabeth." Her attention returns to Adam before she adds in confusion, "Who said that?" she asks, before adding a slightly suspicious, "Was it Variel…?"

Adam shakes his head. "No," he says. "It wasn't Variel. I haven't spoken to him since the train ride." He doesn't add that he's been too afraid to. He twirls his second half of chocolate bar on the table for a moment before continuing. "It was one of the Slytherin first-years. Emily Gibbon."

"Oh," Madeline says. Was she a little relieved? Maybe. "I dunno. Variel said something like that to me, once. Not that I'd threatened anyone but- well. That people'd think /I'm/ a threat? If I don't immediately think the wizard way of doing things is the best way of doing things."

Adam nods. "I've been told things like that before too," he says. "That people might be threatened by me. But I've never been told that I actually threatened someone. On purpose." He prods the chocolate bar with his finger until it drops off the table and into his lap, then he picks it up again. "She said I wasn't allowed to come within five feet of her."

"Yeah, well, no loss. Tell her sure thing and do it." Madeline shrugs her shoulders - then suddenly giggles. "What if a Professor ordered you to do group work with her? 'I'm sorry, Professor, but I promised Emily I wouldn't come within five feet of her.'"

"I did," Adam says with a wry smile. He looks askance at his friend, but laughs as well. "If it was Potions I'd have to stand away from her and toss ingredients at her cauldron. That would be fun!" He pauses, feeling better after the laugh. "A few seconds after she told me that, she forgot her own rule and stepped closer to me. It was a bit funny."

"I'm fairly convinced that hate makes people stupid. Like…. like there some sorta magical invisible creature that gets in their head, and takes all of their smarts, and just replaces it with hate," Madeline suggests.

"Must be," Adam says. "I can't think of any other reason. You know, as bad as some of them can be, at least it's mostly just talk and bad attitude. Today it felt like I was diseased, or that I was some sort of criminal who ought to be locked up or shot or something."

"Well they got that-" backwards. "…wrong," Madeline mutters. Be /nice/, Madeline Evans. Be /nice/. She lets out a sigh. "Did you think my idea was stupid, too?" she asks suddenly. …well, /there's/ a loaded question.

"Yeah," Adam says, sighing as well. He glances at her. "Which idea? The one you were talking to Elizabeth about?" He scratches the back of his neck. "I, um, wasn't really listening. I was trying not to think about what happened earlier. And I was really excited about the pirates."

"Oh, well. …I guess it's not really important, anyways," Madeline responds. Since no one really seemed to like it. /She/ thought it was a good idea, anyways. She picks up her chocolate, taking another big bite, not sure what else to say.

Adam elbows her in the side. "You don't get to decide whether it's important or not!" he says. "Only I get to decide that!" He grins at her, or tries to anyway. He feels a bit awkward now. The blood purists are getting to him. "So, what was it? What's the idea?"

Madeline looks aside at Adam, hesitating before launching into an explanation - though with far less enthusiasm than when she told Elizabeth. "I thought we could make a list of all the important Muggle-born witches and wizards who've done good things, and make a poster for each of 'em, with their name and what they did, and put them all over the school. Then later take the posters down, and just put up a list of /all/ the names in the same spot, and have it say something like 'Muggle-born isn't an insult.

"But Elizabeth says that's just dividing us off from the rest of the wizards and trying to be all 'we're great and you're not,' or something. She and Gunny thought we should do posters of Muggle-born, half-blood, /and/ pureblood wizards but… it's not the same thing."

Adam starts eating the second half of chocolate bar as he listens to his friend explain her idea. He chews for a moment longer after she stops talking, thinking it over. "Let's do it," he says all of a sudden. "I don't care if people take it the wrong way. I'm tired of having to listen to all the rubbish they tell us. Let's do it, and if they think it's the wrong message, or dividing us off or whatever, then they'll know how we feel."

Madeline feels relieved that /Adam/ at least thinks it's a good idea. Of course /he/ would get it! "But it'd be a lot of work, just the two of us, and I'm not very good at art. I thought - well. We could suggest it to the whole Mud Club. Maybe some of them would want to help with it…"

"Okay," Adam says. "That's a good idea. I'm not that good at art either. I know Silas is, but he's part of the problem, isn't he? Let's ask them then, but even if they all say know I'm still going to help you do it. Even if it takes the whole of the rest of the year."

Madeline shifts in her seat a bit uncomfortably. "I dunno that he's /part of the problem/ exactly, just… just…" She isn't sure what to say. "Well. At the very least we could start making a list of famous Muggle-borns and maybe make an example poster for when we tell the club?" she suggests.

"Didn't you say he was one of the ones who thinks we have to prove ourselves?" Adam asks. "Sounds like part of the problem to me." He doesn't sound at all like his usual self. He nods at the suggestion. "Yeah, good idea. Er, d'you know any famous Muggle-borns? I don't really know which famous people have what sort of blood." He doesn't usually think about it.

"Well yeah, but… I don't know. He's not as bad as the others. He's really nice, and he /tries/ to help," Madeline responds, pursing her lips together. She doesn't know what to think about a /lot/ of things right now, though. Then she shakes her head, adding, "I don't really know. We'll have to research it. Maybe if we ask Professor Palancher… I mean, Muggle Studies isn't the /same/ thing, but…"

Adam shrugs. He doesn't know what to think either, and he knows Silas less than Madeline knows him. He folds his arms on the table and rests his chin on them, staring at an empty cup. Joining the pirates was a good distraction, but it wasn't enough to take his mind off what happened earlier. "Yeah," he says. "We can try asking her. Have you ever spoken to her before? I haven't."

Madeline shakes her head. "I haven't either," she admits. "But, I mean, she must like Muggles. So I'm sure she'd try to help. Right?" She doesn't sound sure of very much right now. But she's /trying/. "Be easier than doing all that research from scratch."

"Makes sense," Adam says in a mumbling sort of way, as he doesn't bother lifting his head when he speaks. "Don't see why she'd teach the subject if she doesn't like them. Unless she likes Muggles but hates Muggle-borns." He laughs without humor. "When d'you want to ask her?"

Madeline shrugs her shoulders. "I guess I'll try to ask her between classes tomorrow. I'm not sure when /her/ classes are scheduled, but if I keep popping in between all of our's…" She's sure to catch her eventually!

"Good idea," Adam says. "Well, let me know when you do and I'll help you with the poster." He pushes himself away from the table and sits up. "I'm going to bed." Standing, he looks at her. He thinks he ought to say something else, but he can't think of what. "Good night, Maddie."

"Goodnight, matey," Madeline replies, flashing her friend a small smile. "I hope you sleep sound in your hammock tonight." See? She's trying to keep their spirits up. Even if both of them are feeling rather down in the dumps.

Adam can't help but smile. He fumbles in his pocket for the coin Cillian gave him, pulls it out and looks at it as though to make sure he wasn't imagining things and then puts it away again. "Arr," he says. He manages a brief grin for his friend and walks off towards the doors.

"Arrr," Madeline agrees. She then turns her attention to the books in front of her.
Giant pink sparkly heart…
She eats her chocolate.

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