| Details for Dare You Do It |
| Summary: | Adam finds Angelus at the cliff, who treats the younger boy with contempt. |
| Date: | December 18, 1939 |
| Location: | Clock Tower and Cliffs, Hogwarts |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Angelus is up on the cliffs overlooking the lake. He had eaten lunch in the Great Hall, and has now come outside, dressed in his uniform with his heavy cloak. His hand out in front of him, he takes what appears to be a stone from his left hand and throws it out, watching as the stone explodes in a cloud of smoke and sparkles.
Adam walks with his arms wrapped around himself, his own cloak pulled close for warmth. His isn't heavy like Angelus's - it's light and worn and probably secondhand. He makes his way to where the Gryffindor stands, but hangs back as though considering whether he wants to approach him after all. But curiosity gets the better of him, and a second or two later he asks, "What was that?"
Angelus throws out another, watching it explode into sparks, draping downward towards until they vanish. He turns to give Adam a look, brow arched, as if to question why he’s approached as if they were equal. A smirk flicks out against his lips as Angelus gestures outward, to where the stones had been thrown. “Something for the holidays,” he answers in an impatient tone, as if responding was such a chore. “Are you looking after that broom?”
Adam watches the next stone explode and then looks to Angelus eagerly. "Are they fireworks?" he asks. But the light in his eyes dies at the other boy's expression and tone, and he seems to shrink back from him. "Yes," he answers. He's meek at first, but then he looks irritated, whether it’s with Angelus or with himself. Maybe both. "Of course I am," he says curtly. "I look after my things. Are you allowed to have those things?"
Angelus tosses out another, watching it do the same thing. “In a way,” he answers Adam tediously about them being fireworks. On a sigh, he turns to the younger boy and holds out a hand to him. “Here, you can have the rest.” His chin lifts a little, and he turns away from Adam to walk along the cliffs as he looks over the edge. He doesn’t answer Adam about being allowed to have them or not, because as far as he’s concerned, it isn’t any of his business. “You should try flying from here, diving to the water. It’s fun,” he suggests, even if his tone isn’t quite friendly.
Adam hesitates, but steps forward and takes the remaining stones from Angelus. He eyes them, dubious. If it wasn't any of his business whether they're allowed or not, it is now that he's holding them. He glances around as though expecting a teacher of prefect to jump out from behind something and yell "Aha!" He also entertains the idea of setting them on the ground and walking away, but he doesn't want to appear ungrateful. So instead he just stares at them, torn, until Angelus speaks up again. "What?" he says. "You mean fly straight down towards the water? Isn't that dangerous?"
“Fun,” Angelus echoes himself, sounding bored. He doesn’t give Adam a look, just continues to look over the cliff. Adam might as well not have been there and Gel was simply talking to himself. “A little bit of danger didn’t scare me.” He cranes is head as he peers at a distance to the side of the cliff, bends down and scoops up a plain stone, and hurls it at the cliff face in the distance. He hits his mark, a branch sticking out shaking, dropping snow off it.
"It doesn't scare me either," Adam hurries to point out. "I just don't know if it'd be a good idea. You know, with the teachers and all that." He shrugs and watches as Angelus tosses an ordinary stone. Then, as if to show he isn't afraid of anything, he walks over to stand next to the Gryffindor and holds out the hand he holds the exploding stones in. "Nice shot. Want another of these?"
“Ah,” Angelus lets out in a response, as though he doesn’t believe it. He rolls his eyes and returns to scanning the cliff face. A quick glance looks at Adam’s hand, his lips curling as he shakes his head. “No.” Finally, Angelus brings his gaze to regard Adam, considering the younger boy as if he were sizing him up. “Look,” he suddenly says, shifting his gaze and pointing out towards a place that the cliffs jut out a bit. “You can jump from there into the water.” A smirk flicks as he glances to Adam. “I dare you jump from there now. I’ll give you a galleon if you can.”
Adam draws his hand back and shrugs, almost dismissively. "Fine," he mutters. He looks out to the cliffs, searching for the spot Angelus is trying to point out to him. He hesitates. A Galleon is a lot of money. He'd probably get in trouble for doing it, but it doesn't look that bad from here, and it'd be worth the risk. But his brow furrows and he shakes his head. "No," he says in the same way Angelus just did. "I won't. I'm not doing anything for you. Here, take your stones back." He turns his hands over and drops them at Angelus's feet.
Angelus doesn’t give Adam much more thought, chin lifted as he scans the cliffs. He simply smirks as he turns down the dare, shrugging as though he could care less. His gaze drops lazily to the ground when the stones are dropped, and listing his head tiresomely to give the younger boy a look, his brow lifts in such a way that suggests he might think of Adam as a simpleton. He sighs out impatiently, a shake of his head as he approaches the cliffs himself, testing the very edge with a foot.
"That's it then?" Adam says. "You're done talking to me? Should I scurry along so you can sulk about your Slytherin friends not liking you anymore?" He shakes his head as he watches Angelus approach the cliff. "What, are you going to jump now just to prove that you're so much better than me? Go on then. I dare you."
If she pushed him - would anyone notice? The thought pops into Madeline's head, but she instantly feels guilty for having it. Besides - how can you push someone who doesn't exist? "Hey Adam!" Madeline greets the boy brightly. "What're you doing out here all by yourself? Have you seen Mischief? I was gonna give her a treat for that big package she brought me this morning."
Angelus seems to be considering something, but he certainly doesn’t share his thoughts with Adam. Blinking, he lifts his head with dignity as he fixes his blue eyes on Adam, once more regarding the younger boy. An impatient sigh escapes him, closing his eyes momentarily as he lifts to pinch the bridge of his nose. “You said it, I did not,” he murmurs out and looks away as his lips curl. Madeline gets a very brief flick of his eyes, but Angelus only smirks as he looks from her, assuming that Adam will run along now to talk with his friend.
"Said what?" Adam asks. "That you're better than me? You're right, you didn't say it. You just think it over and over, trying to convince yourself that it's true. Because deep down you know it's not." He turns around when Madeline arrives, and he appears to cheer up at once. He's momentarily confused when she asks why he's here alone, but then he remembers that she isn't talking to Angelus right now, which seems like a good example for him to follow. "Haven't seen her, no. What'd she bring you?" His momentary cheer fades. He's been waiting for something in the mail for weeks, but still nothing.
"Oh! Right. This!" Madeline reaches into her bag, and pulls out something hard and jar-shaped, wrapped in some brightly colored tissue paper. She hands it over, while she starts digging around through a pile of cards with names on them, until she finds the one that says 'Adam.' "Open it," she encourages him while she searches. Inside he would find a home-canned jar of jam labeled 'summerberry 39' with a grease pencil. "I made it over the summer! Figure it just the sort of thing we need by now, right?"
Angelus doesn’t bother looking to Adam as the younger boy talks. The fourth year stands looking out over the cliffs, appearing to not be listening to Adam at all. But then when Adam approaches Madeline, Angelus turns, his back straight and his hands clasping behind him. “Oh, well then if you’ll excuse me,” he murmurs out, barely lowering his chin, his lips twitching. “I will be off.” He turns from Adam, not even sparing Madeline another glance as he proceeds to walk away from the cliffs.
Adam takes the wrapped jar from her, bemused, and holds it while she searches through the cards. "Open it? All right. Mischief definitely deserves a treat. I can't imagine carrying this all the way here if I was his size." He glances over his shoulder at Angelus. "Bye!" he says. "Don't forget that you're better than me!" He turns back to Maddie, rolls his eyes, and unwraps the jar. "You made this? Nice! I didn't know you made jam." He looks at her curiously. "What do you mean it's just the sort of thing we need?"
"Oh, mum taught me how. I make jam in the summer with plum and berries and things, and then I sell them in the village and I get to keep the coins," Madeline explains cheerfully. "And I mean - well, in the cold weather! Some jam made from summer berries. It's just the thing to have on a scone, for Christmas. Don't you think?" Finally finding the card she's looking for, she offers it over - the front looks like your usual Christmas card, but inside there's a picture of a giant stone monster gobbling up stone mesas. "I found a picture in a book - those kinds of mountains, they're in America. And there was one that looked a little bit like a monster! So it gave me this idea, and I drew it for you. Isn't it great?" she asks eagerly. There's also a message. 'Happy Christmas. Watch out for monsters! Madeline.'
"You do?" Adam asks. "Sounds like I need to learn how to make jam then. I wonder if the people in my neighborhood'd buy it." He grins at her. "Yeah, that does sound rather good now that you mention it." He takes the card from her with a smile, but laughs when he opens it. "It's brilliant," he says. "Thanks, Maddie! This is terrific. I'm not done with your present yet. Hope I finish it in time. Only a couple more days, aren't there?"
"I'm glad you like it. And only until Saturday morning. And tomorrow's the pantomime!" Madeline bounces up onto the tips of her toes. "I wish we were doing the Warlock's Hairy Heart - but this is a good one, too. I guess Professor Beery thought the Warlock's Hairy Heart wasn't Christmasy enough but - ooo! Maybe we could do a Halloween pantomime next year!"
"I'd better hurry then," Adam says, scratching the back of his neck. He grins. "That definitely sounds more like a Halloween pantomime. But is there even such a thing as a Halloween pantomime? Say, the one you're doing tomorrow… About the fountain, right? Isn't that that place we went to last year? That was a lot of fun."
"Yeah, that's where we went. So it's the same story. And we should make a Halloween pantomime next year! It'd be great!" Madeline insists in an eager voice. "Oh. And don't worry about the package being too heavy for Mischief. My uncle picked them up from my mum and put a featherweight on 'em before he gave it to Mischief. But it sure was a biiiiiig box for her!"
"I wonder what sort of place they could make for the Warlock's Hairy Heart," Adam says. "Doesn't sound nearly as fun. I should probably read those stories one day." He grins. "That explains it. I still think she deserves a treat. I might be biased, though, seeing as the package was for me. So you like being in pantomimes then? What's the Hairy Heart story about anyway?"
"You don't know the story?" Madeline gasps. "You gotta read it! It's about this warlock who uses dark magic and he takes out his heart and puts it in a crystal box because he doesn't like emotions and his heart gets shriveled and hairy and he meets a pretty girl who tells him to put his heart back, but the heart has turned evil, so he rips out the girl's heart to try to put it in his chest, and rips his hairy heart back out, but before he can put the girl's heart in he diiiiiiiies!" she explains - before letting out dramatic 'urk' and 'ack' sounds and collapsing to the floor in a heap. It's all over the top and completely ridiculous.
Adam listens with interest as his friend summarizes the story, but when she gets to the part about the warlock ripping the girl's heart out his eyes widen and then he grins. When Maddie dramatically falls to the ground he bursts out laughing. "Ha ha," he says. "Funny. But come on, what's the real story? There's no way that's it. These are supposed to be children's stories! Right?"
"No, really!" Madeline answers - pushing herself up on one arm. "That's the story! Isn't it great? I think it's supposed to teach us the dangers of dark magic or something. I'm not sure. It's my favorite, though! Of the the Beedle the Bard stories, anyways. I bet you could run that one in Weird Tales and the Muggles would looooooove it."
Adam watches Madeline as though expecting her to inform him that she's pulling his leg at any moment. When she doesn't he just shakes his head, amazed. "Wow," he says. "I'm surprised there's even such a thing as a Dark wizard after hearing that. You'd think that'd scare them right off. They must not have read the stories as children. Glad you told me, though. Now I'm almost guaranteed not to be a Dark wizard."
Madeline giggles. "Almost?" she asks, before popping to her feet. "Anyways. Happy Christmas - I better go find Mischief. I have a copy of the Beedle the Bard tales my uncle gave me - let me know if you wanna borrow it! You could read the Warlock's Hairy Heart over Christmas!" With a jaunty wave, she starts to dash off.
"Well you never know," Adam says, making a goofy attempt at a sly, malicious grin. "I could secretly be evil! Maybe I have a hairy heart of my own. He rubs at his chest as if checking and pretends to look disappointed. "No, just a regular heart. So much for that." Grinning, he waves goodbye and says, "Yeah, I'd like to! See you later!"