(1939-12-10) Loyalties
Details for Loyalties
Summary: Angelus tells Abraxas about who helped Flint fall, but things don't end up the way he wants. Again.
Date: December 10, 1939
Location: Gardens, Hogwarts
Related:
Characters
AbraxasAngelusMadeline

Abraxas is bundled up against the weather, his silver and green Slytherin scarf wrapped a few times around his neck and thrown over his shoulder, and grey gloves covering his hand. He's got his blazer and jumper both under his robes as well, which are likewise closed fully. Elbows on knees, chin on the backs of his palms, he seems to be lost in thought.

Adorned neatly in his uniform with a warm outer cloak of fine wool, Angelus walks along the gardens alone, glancing around with a slight tilt to his head. Hood up, upon spying Abraxas, Angelus pauses and casts another glance around before smirking. “Malfoy,” greets the youth as he approaches, dipping his head to the Slytherin. The hood is tossed back of his head. “Alone?”

"Unless the Bloody Baron or Peeves is lurking under this bench, then yes, I'm alone, Eibon." Abraxas says, within moving his head from the direction of the flowerbed he was studying. He eventually does look up, though, and sits back, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap. The aristocrat at rest. He says nothing further, simply meeting Angelus with a basilisk gaze that belies his still-young years.

Angelus takes his time in saying anything further. His smile is smug as he glances around the gardens again, studying the area simply. When he returns his gaze to Abraxas he resists the urge to roll his eyes, sufficing instead with a sigh. “I don’t get it,” he starts, shrugging back his shoulders. “Is no one concerned about the spy on the Magijugend?” His hands spread in front of him.

"Oh?" Abraxas says, tugging off a glove and studying his fingernails for a moment, then buffing them on his robes. "Someone is spying on the Magijugend? Or in the Magijugend? A key distinction, wouldn't you agree? I mean, I'm already fairly certain that we can't trust anyone who isn't one of us." His gaze meets Angelus's unflinchingly, and he says, "If you have something you want to say to me, Eibon, go ahead and say it. I'm listening."

Angelus shifts lightly on his feet as he regards Abraxas with a silent stare. His head tilts lightly, a brow arching, before he turns his head to glance away with a twitch of his lips. As he lets out a breath and looks back to the fifth year, he lifts his chin a fraction. “It’s a good thing I’m one of you,” he remarks, pausing for a moment before adding in, “even if you can’t see it. I thought Black would have told you.” He lifts a hand and sighs, giving his head a single shake. “I don’t know how she found out about anything, but Evans was informing Odori of things. They need to be split apart, even if it means vanishing that bloody bird of hers. If we could get Evans into trouble with Odori…”

"And what purpose would that serve?" Abraxas asks, nodding at the information. He purses his lips, "It's hardly surprising. And what was going on here wasn't a secret." He pulls his glove back on. "So, you do her the unkindness of killing her raven…" Malfoy smiles a bit at his own pun, "to what end? Flint isn't here, and transfiguring the little mudblood into a turnip wouldn't be any more than momentarily satisfying. What benefit is that to us?"

“It’ll keep her from sending any more information to Odori,” Angelus says with a shrug of his shoulders. “If we can make them distrust one another we wouldn’t have to worry anymore.” He pauses to glance around the gardens again before bringing his gaze back to Abraxas. “All I know is that Odori said she gave that bloody badge to Evans because she ‘helped her with Flint.’ So it sounds like she knew before the school year even started.” Gel draws in a breath, shifting again on his feet and clasping his hands behind his back. “If we do anything to try and rid Muggle-borns from our precious school, she’ll just run to Odori the way things are now.”

"Eibon… are you aware of any dark magic going on at Hogwarts?" Abraxas asks, tilting his head again, "No? Because I'm not either. That is all that Aurors have jurisdiction over. The only reason they came here in the first place was because of the contracts." He taps his fingers against his pants, "If you want to go ahead and hex the girl, then do that. But I would rather wait until there are less eyes on us before I make some sort of move like that. Let's learn from my house's recent unfortunate examples. Open magical reprisals will only cause backlash. We are the ones who have, throughout things here, seemed reasonable."

Angelus lets Abraxas speak as his eyes lock on the Slytherin. A sigh is drawn out of him as he lowers his gaze to the ground, slowly nodding his head. “Right,” he murmurs out even as he worries, pushing his tongue against his teeth as he eyes the ground. Nodding slowly as he glances up at Abraxas, dipping his head to him silently, he begins to steps away until he turns back to him. “Doesn’t your father have any influence to get a new place built? To get Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?”

Abraxas narrows his eyes slightly, "So, you want my father to finance a school for Muggle-borns so that they'll go study magic somewhere else? Yes, I can see how that would be a good idea." The Slytherin's tone drips sarcasm at the last part. "No. Headmaster Flint's hamhandedness has set our plan back. Years, perhaps longer. And when the smoke clears, I will still be waiting. You, on the other hand, need to figure out what side you're on, Eibon." Abraxas flicks an invisible bit of lint off his trousers, and then continues, "You want everyone to like you. Or perhaps adore you would be a better word. But in trying to court all sides, you have in fact courted none. Allow me to impart a bit of homey wisdom - when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." He pauses just a moment, then asks, with as much frost as the rest of the conversation, "Was there anything else, Eibon?"

“No, that’s not what I want,” Angelus murmurs out with a shake of his head. “But they affect our learning while they are here. If there was way to take away whatever small magic they possess…” But he trails off, and frowns as he listens to the older boy. “So you agree that Flint took the wrong approach?” he inquiries as he lifts a brow. Without taking a breath, Angelus raises his voice just slightly, “I don’t care if the lower class like me or not, but in pretending to sympathise with them I can play them. I will try to help the Magijugend. I still believe in them.”

Arriving from the greenhouses, Madeline is just tucking away some gardening gloves into her book bag when she hears voices - the familiar voice of a housemate, in fact. She pauses, glancing around to see if they had a clear view of her through the fountains and shrubberies in the garden, and takes a step to one side, to put a fountain more fully between them. What is Eibon on about now? Not that it really surprises her. Helping the Magijugend? That's what he said, right? Well. Sure sounds like something he'd say, anyways.

Abraxas doesn't look impressed, and responds simply, "The question is do the Magijugend have any faith in you, Eibon." Abraxas's gloved hands rest back on his lap as he leans back on the bench, fingers intertwining. "Did I think that Professor Flint was going about things wrong? Yes, I thought he pushed too far, too fast. But it didn't matter what I thought, because I had given him my word. You're a pure-blood wizard, Eibon. You want all the trappings of that, you want people to respect you, and listen to you, and hang on your every word. But you don't want to shoulder the responsibility. I don't care about your many excuses - and believe it or not, those of us who talked to you also talk about you, after your little incident, so I well knew that you told Black and I different things about why you had done it - I care only that you proved untrustworthy." A little tick in Abraxas's cheek and a clenching of his hands, and then he decides that he isn't going to bother pulling punches this time, "You saw that the box had been found, and then you betrayed us - either in a moment of some sort of conscience, or in hope of maintaining your beloved and cherished popularity. I think you don't even know what you want. Grow a spine, Angelus Eibon. Your snivelling is unbecoming of a wizard. If you're going to be a traitor, at least have the courage of your convictions and stop wasting my time telling me the 'secrets' of some mudblood girl that seems to be the only one stupid enough to actually trust a cowardly, dishonest little shite like you."

And with that, Abraxas gets to his feet. It's then that he notices Madeline walking in their direction. Oh, well. That bridge was hit with a reductor curse the moment she was born of muggle parents.

Angelus doesn’t interrupt Abraxas, but his mouth does gape open slightly before he quickly closes it again, shifting on his feet. Frowning, he turns his gaze to look elsewhere again. He simply wilts in disappointment, his shoulder slumping. When Abraxas gets up to move away, Gel’s gaze flicks simply toward the Slytherin to watch him move off before he draws out a heavy sigh and looks away. His hands lift to bring the hood of his cloak up again, once again pulling it over his head as he walks - or more like trudges - in the opposite direction of Abraxas, eyes locking on the ground grumpily so that he doesn’t notice Madeline at all.

It's one of those things you just can't look away from - but you know you really shouldn't be watching (or in this case, listening to) - the way Abraxas dresses Angelus down. As Abraxas finishes, as he mentions the 'secrets of some mudblood girl, Madeline ends up rooted in place and just gaping as Abraxas makes his way towards her. She tightens her jaw, then forces a smile before somehow managing to get out the words, "Hello, Malfoy." That's all she has to say to him, it seems. Her tone even seems cordial enough.

Abraxas takes a step or two, but then turns long enough to see Angelus start to slink off. If it's possible, he looks even more aggravated, that Eibon just takes it, depriving him of the opportunity to vent more spleen. Unfortunately for Madeline, she wanders into the line of fire, though the Malfoy manages to check himself before fully unloading another broadside. Still, if there was any doubt about what was discussed, he says, "Well, if it isn't the worm in the core of Hogwarts' shining apple. I think your friend Eibon needs some cheering up, Evans. Maybe you children should go off and play gobstones in a quiet corner or something." His robes swoosh around him as he turns on his heel to take an angle that will take him away from both of them - despite requiring a longer walk. "Good day!" he calls back to both of them, holding up his hand and sharply moving his wrist in a flicking gesture.

Angelus whirls to the girl’s greeting to Abraxas, fixing sharp blue eyes on her. Panic rushes over him, but he quickly closes his eyes as he turns his head away, drawing in a breath. His fingers curl down beside him, fisting as he concentrates on taking in a couple breaths. Long enough for Abraxas to say his departing words to Madeline, and as Gel opens his eyes again with a look of surprise, he only stares at his fellow housemate in silence as he tries to gather himself. Eventually- shifting on his feet uneasily - Angelus spreads his hands and pipes up. “You want to come and hit me? Hex me? Kick me? Free shot,” he says bitterly with a twist to his lips. Without waiting for her to respond, he turns his back to her and begins to walk again, head down as he kicks at a stone.

Worm at the core? Her? Madeline lifts her chin up, drawing her back and shoulders up straighter. "Eibon can take care of himself," she answers Abraxas, doing her best to keep her voice calm and even. It only cracks a little.

Her gaze shifts to Angelus next, her forced smile turning into an angry frown, and her expression darkening. "Bugger off," she tells him - without moving from her spot. She seems rooted in place, for the moment.

Angelus doesn’t look back at the girl. With gaze focused on the ground, he stalks off, not bothering to even show that he heard her at all.

Madeline stays right where she is a few moments longer just… breathing. Just concentrating on her breathing, while her hands bunch up tighter and tighter at her side. Eventually, she spins and starts her way back to the Gryffindor tower by the shortest route possible.

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