Alphard Black (solitarystars) wrote in enemies_rpg, @ 2013-03-19 18:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1943-03] march, alphard black, hephestus crabbe |
Who: Alphard Black and Hef Crabbe
Where: Inside.
When: Backdated to whenever chores week was.
What: Failing at chores.
Status/Rating: G.
The feather duster danced across the banister and fell unceremoniously to the stairs below. Lowering his wand, Alphard could hear it fall and leaned over the wooden banister to watch as the duster rolled down a stair or two and came to rest on the lower landing. Fortunately, he and the Crabbe boy had decided to work alone, away from the others and the suits of armor; he only hoped that the other boy wouldn't judge him for failing a simple cleaning charm. "If I wanted to be a house elf, I'd have certainly not come to Hogwarts." Alphard took his time collecting the duster, taking each stair as if it were a leisurely stroll on the grounds. He didn't care to be here, and frankly, he didn't care if the other boy knew or not. "Say," he said, finally picking the duster up. He rested against the staircase and watched the other boy. "What do you think of all this?" The other boy cautiously glanced at Alphard from the corner of his eye, as though meeting his gaze directly would turn him to stone. Then he glanced around them, just to be sure that Alphard been talking to him. Satisfied, but still curious, that this was the case, Hef finally addressed him. "Erm." Hephestus dropped his wand, which clattered down a few steps. He scrambled to retrieve it, before he rejoined Alphard further up the staircase. He laughed, nervously. Alphard was a pure-blood of the most respectable caliber, his mother had told him, and he absolutely had to be nice to him. Hef wouldn't have been any other way, of course, but he knew he had to do his best to make sure Alphard didn't think he was an idiot. Job well done,, Hef thought to himself derisively. "I think-- This is wrong." He sounded unsure but Hef was quite certain that they were not meant to be doing these things. House-elves had a directed purpose. "I think this is a Mud-- blood's idea of a good idea." The word 'Mudblood' caused Alphard to pause. He'd used the word before, but lately, what ought not to bother him did. This, in particular, was one of those things. "Oh, well, yes," he agreed. Caught in his own thoughts Alphard didn't have time to puzzle over the other boy's behaviour; he couldn't even remember if he'd ever spoken to Hef in the past. Surely, they had? "It is really unfair..." "Especially when you could be studying for - OWLs?" Alphard cast Hef a questioning glance, uncertain if the boy were in fifth or perhaps a younger year. Hef offered Alphard a fervent nod of the head in response. He needed to study. He really needed to study. OWLs were looming ever closer, and Hephestus Crabbe was not the brightest of students, so the majority of his extra time ought to be spent upon his studies. "Yeah. I've got to study for OWLs. Or my mum'll be really mad..." His voice trailed off as Hef imagined the angered expression of his mother's face as he 'failed' his OWLs, and it made his insides squirm. Hef sighed. "But don't you have to study, too?" Alphard relaxed against the stairwell. His own OWL exams had been a nightmare. He'd done well enough where it counted, but he could still remember emerging from Divination, pale and frustrated that the greatest secret of his inner eye had been that there would be pudding tomorrow. "Well, yeah, but it's hardly the same. The NEWTs are ages away. Besides..." He trailed off, considering all that had happened in the past few months and what could happen. "...who knows where we'll be in a few months." He hadn't meant to allude to the war, but more and more, the idea came to him. Not if they would be sent to fight, for now he thought the fact almost inevitable, but when and how. Hef had no idea that Alphard was referring to the war, looming ever closer. It simply didn't occur to him, even though he had an Auror for a mother whose safety he was vaguely aware was imperiled due to the state of affairs that enraptured the wizarding world. Instead, Hephestus blinked away his confusion and fear flickered there instead. Had he somehow offended Alphard? Hephestus allowed his gaze to flit back to Alphard's face before quickly looking down again. He didn't seem angry. So he opted to agree with Alphard instead. "Yeah," he said, though he didn't know exactly what he was agreeing to. It didn't seem adequate enough, however, so he added, hopefully, "Maybe exams will be cancelled. I mean, the Mudbloods haven't been around for classes, and it wouldn't be fair to make them take the exams without being around for the lessons, and it wouldn't be fair to make only some of us take them." Alphard was too lost in his thoughts to notice whether or not Hef understood. He nodded slowly as the other boy spoke, frowning at the mention of those in the hospital wing. "They'd have to sit their OWLs eventually, I imagine." His voice was quieter now, thoughtful. "Would you like me to help you study?" 'Dumbfounded' was the only word in all of the languages of the world to describe the expression on Hef's face then. Alphard Black was asking him if he wanted his, Alphard's, help in studying. He nodded just as decidedly as he had before, before he spoke. "Yeah! I'd- I'd like that," he said, trying to keep from smiling too widely, too eagerly. His sisters, the Terrors, teased him for doing so too often enough, telling him how stupid he looked when he smiled in such a way. Hef scratched his arm to distract himself. "I'm worst at potions. And Arithmancy. And History. Too many names and dates," he added, by way of explanation. Alphard smiled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "All right," he said, after a moment's hesitation. He hated studying himself, but maybe helping another student would be different. He hoped. "History is easy if you can remember the story, and I'm not bad at Potions..." Alphard went over his own OWLs in his head. "And Transfiguration is my best subject but I'm no good at Arithmancy... Later afternoons work except Mondays I draw with Gilbert and, of course, I have Quidditch practice and my girlfriend..." Alphard rattled off his obligations easily enough, ticking each off on his fingers. The other boy admired Alphard with wide, wondering eyes as he continued nodding, as though he knew all of that and agreed with it once more. His mind was dizzy with delight over the new fortune that had befallen him and he couldn't think very clearly as to when he could actually sit with the Slytherin boy. "Erm," he began, screwing his eyes up as he tried desperately to clear his thoughts. "Wednes- Wednesdays, I've got a bit of time before dinner, after classes. And Tuesday morning, I haven't got any classes at all. And there's always free period..." His voice trailed off as he figured he was talking too much. "Okay, Tuesday mornings?" Alphard mentally compared Hef's schedule to his own. He hadn't consider how much of his, already seemingly precious, free time this would take. Honestly, learning ought to just take place through magic. "I've got Potions just before free period Wednesdays... But we'll see, yeah?" He glanced back towards the staircase, which still had a thin layer of dust. He sighed. "Would it matter if we left it like this?" he asked, gesturing towards the staircase. "Surely no one ever died from uncleanliness..." Hef laughed on cue, eyeing the dust that remained to be cleaned, but he did not answer. He was torn between his desire to simply go back to Gryffindor's tower where he'd fall into bed until someone roused him, and his desire to complete things to full satisfaction, to the point where no one could possibly fault him for a job poorly done. As if crying at the thought of continuing on in this fash, Hef's back ached and his fingers throbbed, too, from all of the cleaning that had been done so far. He made a slight noise that was neither a confirmation or a denial, but stuffed his feather duster into his back pocket by the handle and crossed his arms over his chest, smiling a little. "I think we're done here." |