If there was one thing Jasper really didn't like, it was surprises. Oh, sure, people could prattle on about how he needed to loosen up, but that was the thing -- he couldn't. He was just Jasper One of the Hufflepuffs. Most of his housemates and yearmates irked him with their incessant cheeriness and what felt like bouncing around everywhere. He could name names, but what would be the point? Most people felt like a fungus anyway, the kind that just kept growing no matter how much you tried to get rid of it.
Well, maybe that was harsh. But Jasper felt betrayed by the very same fucking people who kept claiming they cared about him and his well-being. To let him go on in this absurd place like they all didn't know -- how could he trust any of them after that? It was his cousin Parvati who was the first to tell him, and so he trusted her. Helga had said something to him about pushing away people who weren't strong enough to handle his rejection, but that just sounded like weepy bullshit to him. No. He didn't want to be friends with people who withered like dying flowers at the first sign of adversity.
The knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts. It was a wonder he had even heard it, as he had the town's wireless up as loud as it would go. The music variation was all right. Not all of his favorite things played as often as he would have liked, but this was his only option. With a narrowed-eye stare at the door, Jasper pulled himself up off the sofa (yet again, he didn't know where his housemate was) and went to the front door. When it swung back with the force of his hand, he saw Parvati. "What?"