| Details for Skipping Stones and Social Graces |
| Summary: | A conversation among some pure-blood students before the school year begins in earnest. |
| Date: | September 2, 1939 |
| Location: | Hogwarts Lake Shore |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Well, this year it seems the Gryffindor Commons are going to feel very crowded most of the time. Angelus, dressed neatly in uniform, has made his way to the lake. A light glare from the sun shines up from the water, causing the youth to squint as he tosses a flat stone out, holding a hand up above his eyes as he watches it skip twice. Bowing his head, he searches for more perfect skipping stones.
Miranda is in her school uniform as well, though she has her black robe folded over an arm, just a little too warm for comfort as she wanders around the edge of the lake. She's been juggling a handful of small stones using her wand, levitating them into a lazy pattern as she moves. When she spots Angelus, however, she lowers her wand, and with a soft clatter the rocks fall to join the others. "Good morning, Eibon," she calls over, still far enough away to be polite. Her progress has not stopped, but her footsteps slow whens he draws properly near. Her attention pauses when it reaches the pendant he wears, then snaps back up to his face, while her same polite smile remains the same.
A hum escapes the youth as he idly plucks stones from the ground, his silver Eye of Truth swinging forward as the boy leans. Gel straightens after finding a couple, but before he turns to toss them out he catches sight of the older student. A head comes up in greeting, followed by a hand flicking above his shoulder. "Goshawk," he offers, dipping his head politely to the seventh year as a smile slips across his face. "Skipping stones," he explains on a chuckle, holding out his hand flat, lowering it in a slant as if to show her.
"Yes," the girl replies, briefly studying the displayed stones. Miranda returns her attention to Angelus' face, however, then glances over the lake before just as quickly looking toward the castle. "Pretty nice day for it," she says in an attempt at smalltalk. She fiddles with her wand, twirling it between her fingers. "How are things in your House this morning? If you don't mind my asking," she's quick to add, gesturing vaguely. "I've only been in Hufflepuff's common room so far. And the great hall just long enough to grab a bite to eat. There's so much…" She trails off, searching for the right word while she also searches his face. "So much tension in the air right now, you know?"
A small grin tugs across Angelus' face as he turns to the water, nodding his head. He takes aim, gripping the rock between his forefinger and thumb before he flicks it, his hand lifting above his eyes again to watch it skip across the surface. "Yea," he agrees, "I want to go in for a swim," he adds as he laughs, glancing back to Miranda. His House? This causes the youth to frown as he looks back to the water on the pretense of firing off another stone, except that he simply glances down to roll the second stone between his fingers. "I didn't wait around," he decides, lifting his shoulders in a simple shrug. An amused laugh escapes him at the mention of tension. "I think that's an understatement." His blue eyes flick back towards Miranda. He offers out the stone to her. "How good are you at skipping?"
"Yes," Miranda answers again, in agreement to the mention of her understatement. When Angelus offers a stone to skip, though, she laughs softly and takes the flat, round rock. "With or without a wand?" she asks with a cheeky little grin. For now, though, she slips her wand into a pocket of the school robe hanging over her arm, then winds back like she just saw the other student do. Her far less coordinated attempt, however, ends in a loud plop, followed by another odd ripple that may or may not indicate she just disturbed something else in the lake. Rueful, she gives Angelus a crooked smile and shrugs. "This is far preferable right now to the questions flying around the castle right now." Which she does not turn onto the other student, instead shrugging back into her robe and squinting out at the lake. "You should, you know. Swim. There won't be many more warm days around here."
Now Alphard has always looked a bit full of himself. He's the sort of kid who drank way too much of his mother's 'you're the bestest little boy who ever lived!' koolaid. Today that aura of impenetrable arrogance is twice as thick around him, however, as he all but glides down towards the lake shore with regal elegance. "Eibon, they said you'd be here" he calls out with lofty dignity. A second later he adds a just as friendly, but rather less meaningful: "Goshawk," to Miranda. Though he joins the two of them, he doesn't pick up any stones or really show any interest in the skipping game.
Yesterday his mark of Magijugend membership was silver. Today it's golden, and on proud display.
Angelus chuckles as he lowers to seek out another stone after handing it the one he had over. "If you use wand I'd expect a better display than my measly three." Bent over, he rests his hands on his knees as he tilts his head back, watching her toss which brings out a wide grin. "Yes!" exclaims the youth as he straightens, lifting both arms above his head. "And I'm still the champion at skipping stones." His tone is easily playful, laughing cheerily enough. Before he can say anything else his blue eyes flick towards the arrival, bringing out a wider grin. His head lifts in a greeting mimicking the way Alphard does. "Hey, Black. Are-" He's about to ask what his eyes notice quickly, and an amused smile crosses his lips. "Oh, congratulations," he offers, gesturing towards the golden pendant.
Miranda can't help but laugh at Angelus' declaration of his championship. He just has that way about him, of course. He follows the Gryffindor boy's gaze toward Alphard, then nods in reply to the second teen's greeting. "Black," she replies in kind, comfortably polite. As with Angelus, Miranda picks out the pendant Alphard wears, her focus flicking from the Slytherin's gold to the Gryffindor's silver. At Angelus' offer of congratulations, Miranda only smiles at Alphard again, staying neutral as she neither congratulates nor censures. Instead she comments, "That seems like quite a lot to be adding to your schedule, Mister Black. It would be a shame for your studies to suffer for it."
"Thank you," Alphard says with a smile that borders on the insufferably smug. He resists the urge to have himself a prolonged preening moment, however. Instead he simply states: "I was the obvious choice." His gaze slides in Miranda's direction, and he takes a few seconds to seriously considering what she says. "I know. I've thought about it. I'm going to be delegating most of my responsibilities, and simply provide oversight and leadership as necessary. I honestly wasn't expecting so much responsibility to add to my already heavy NEWT schedule.. but I'm looking at it as merely an opportunity to step up and prove to everybody I can do it!"
Angelus rubs his hands together in a dusting off motion, since he no longer has any stones in his hands. His gaze slides between the two seventh years, considering quietly as he glances to the speaker. Careful as not to interrupt either of them, he inputs in an impressed tone, "Obviously the best choice," adds Gel. A smirk touches his lips as he rolls his shoulders back. "Flint clearly knows who the appropriate families are." Suck up? Yea, just a little. The fourth year glances between the older students. "Should I let you have the lake shore to yourselves?" he offers politely. Give the seventh years what they want, right?
"Well, you won't catch me adding to your workload," Miranda assures Alphard, her eyes twinkling with what is presumably amusement. "I only have the three courses this year. It's been so nice, though I rather wish now I'd continued with Transfiguration. I imagine I'll need to do some extracurricular coursework once our year is completed," she babbles on, the Welsh in her accent rather pronounced. Meanwhile, she idly removes her wand from her robe pocket again and begins swirling it toward the stones on the lake shore, filtering through them one by one until a suitable skipping stone is found. After it flies into her hand, she offers it to Angelus, to replace the one he gave her moments earlier. There is nothing ambiguous about the momentarily scandalized look she gives the Gryffindor for his question. She smooths the expression back to neutrality a moment later, but there's no hiding that it existed. Instead, she withdraws her offer of the rock and levitates it briefly instead before shooting it across the lake with a flick of her wand. One, two, three… then with a pronounced leap, it skips a fourth time before Miranda drops it into the water. Just because.
"Actually, it was you I came to have a word with, Eibon," Alphard interjects. He crosses what distance there is between them, and puts a companionable hand down on Angelus' smaller shoulder. "A bit of Magijugend business, actually. In the interest of things not getting out of hand, which it very nearly did at the Feast, I would like you to assist Abraxas Malfoy in making a list of the main troublemakers you might have spotted. Then, as properly deputized keepers of the peace, we can sit them down and have a civil conversation and about proper behavior. All in good spirits, yes?" And he leans in, and murmurs in a quieter voice that Miranda isn't meant to overhear: "And first on that list is Madeline Evans, little miss Junior Auror. I'd like you to bring her to me. Don't take no for an answer." Like they'd been talking about how nice the weather is, he straightens up.
"If you don't have enough things to do, perhaps you should try becoming a student aide? Or with a bit of effort and sincerity, perhaps.." he makes his fingers pling against against the Magijugend symbol.
Angelus locks his blue eyes on Miranda as she draws out her wand, watching her levitating the stones. Again, he waits for no one to be speaking before he asks curiously, "Is Transfiguration one of your better classes?" He blinks, surprise giving away to a smile as he looks curiously to Alphard. He nods slowly to the Slytherin, shifting his gaze back onto Miranda in time to catch her retracting the offered stone. A brow arches as he lets out a sigh, shaking his head and returning his attention back to Alphard. He listens to him without interrupting, bobbing his head in a respectful nod. "Of course, Black." Not that he was looking around all that much during the feast. The youth lets out a hum, tilting his head before smirking. "I think Gryffindor's going to be in need of shaping up. Already planning on protesting." He rolls his eyes. "Slytherin's going to have no challenge this year for House points." The smugness in his smile increases at the quieter words and he dips his head. "Oh, I can do that."
Miranda politely turns away when Alphard leans in to have a private word with Angelus. That isn't to say she isn't taking in every word she can hear, but she's been taught manners , even if social graces aren't always her forte. When the Slytherin straightens, Miranda turns back to the other two students and arches a brow at the older of the two. "Oh, I didn't say I don't have enough going on. Only that not all of it has to do with my N.E.W.T.S," she clarifies brightly while spinning up a mini tornado of smaller pebbles, creating just enough wind to tug gently at the bottoms of their robes. "And really, Black, do you think anyone would take me seriously as a Magijugend?" Her tone is sincere but droll. "I'll do far better tutoring students in charms and the like. I like to help as I'm best able." Unsurprising for a Hufflepuff, of course. She attempts to let the tornado of pebbles dwindle one rock at a time, but Angelus' mention of House points causes her to give up the attempt, letting the stoney storm dissipate as she studies the Gryffindor. She considers the two students for a long moment as she replaces her wand inside her robe. It looks as if she might say something, but she settles into a more bland, "I'd best get back to the castle. I'd like to see if there will still be a book club this year," she admits, smiling politely and nodding to each in turn with a, "Eibon. Black." Then, without waiting, she begins climbing up toward the courtyard and is soon out of sight.
"Wonderful. Let's make sure that this year is a better one than last, Eibon. There was too much bloody nonsense, with bad attitude allowed to run rampant." Alphard makes a derisive sniff. "Honestly, how hard can it be to just stick to one's place?" It certainly wasn't hard when one was born rich, pure blood and privileged. He rolls his shoulder in a boyish shrug. "Keep me up to date on that protest movement. As for the other thing, before Dinner would be nice."
"I don't know, Goshawk. I think they'd take you as serious as you took yourself. It's all about effort, you know. Anyway, take care!"
He looks back to Angelus once Miranda is leaving, saying: "I should be going myself. I've got a few things that need righting. Oh, and if any of you younger Magijugends need anything, you'll let me know, right? Help or lessons, whatever you need. We should have ourselves a party, too. Well. Something to think about."
Angelus nods his agreement to making it better and bad attitudes. The fourth year sighs as he lifts a hand to flick a hand delicately through his blonde curls. “Mhm,” he murmurs out, obviously considering Alphard’s question. “I wouldn’t think so, but…” He trails off and shrugs. “I will,” in response about the other thing. He glances towards Miranda, offering the Hufflepuff a polite dip of his head. “Take care of yourself, Goshawk,” he says on a smile. He nods as he looks back to Alphard. Well of course, can’t expect a busy seventh year to hang with him forever. “Thanks, Black,” he says. “I’ll keep you up to date. Congratulations again,” he adds in with a grin.