mad scientist

Finally! Snatching his precious from the guy’s hands as soon as he made to hand it over, Flenn brought his PSP against his chest, so the natural link between his heart and the handheld console could kick in again. The world was already starting to regain its colours, and if he had been more dramatic, the boy would have wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. Or not so imaginary, all things considered.

The short time it took him to rejoice was enough for the taller, lean male to start packing his things. Flenn didn’t know what to make of this at first – had he bothered the guy so much he’d rather leave the library altogether? Was he about to head out, should the Gryffindor wait for him? His indecision was a good thing this once, as he waited long enough to hear the guy’s question. Eyebrows shooting up in surprise, he could only stutter for a few seconds before nodding. “Sure, yeah of course, it’s no problem at all! You found it for me, it’s the least I can do, bro.”

Ah, a name; that’d make things easier. Maybe the guy wasn’t as cold as he first appeared, just one of those people for whom social interaction would always be some sort of mystery, or an unwanted task they still had to complete to get through the day. Which was fine by Flenn: he had more than enough social skills for two. “Nice to meet you, Malakai, and thanks again. I’m Flenn Quintana, in fifth year! You’re older than me, right? I haven’t seen you in any classes and it’s impossible you’re younger than me. Where do you want to go to try this out?” he asked at last, holding up his PSP.

“Excellent.” He was still fairly monotonous, but he was intrigued, nay, excited to see the device in action. It’s owner was quite high strung and, dare he say, puppy like. That could be handled, after all, the only calm person he truly seemed to have in his immediate circle of friends was Damien and even he could be one for theatrics if someone was threatening Jay (not that Kai blamed him there). Besides, the dramatics could have been just because he cared about the device so much and he may calm down now that he had it back in his possession.

“Hmm..” Malakai hummed aloud while exiting the library with the other boy. “Well first, nice to meet you Flenn Quintana.” An interesting name and a non-United Kingdom accent deduced him to the conclusion that he was a transfer student. Likely from South America. “I am a sixth year, but I also take seventh year classes. I assume you are a transfer student? What house are you in?” It certainly was not Ravenclaw, he would have noticed this bouncy thing and Rian surely would have collected this lively thing by now, would ze have not?

Gold and diamonds. The older male cackled, a dry sound like the snap of twigs. At least this idiot wasn’t entirely wasting his time. “I might as well be, compared to you.” By ‘you’ Nikolai didn’t just mean this one guy, although the term was all-encompassing. He was directing this jibe at most of the school because, again: insects, whose interest was tantamount to the fight they had in them. Opposed to him, it was never enough, or just barely. His fun was always cut so short he had learned to love the chase more than the fight itself. Which was why–

“And you, skeletal imitation of a bird, are too thick for words so I will use gestures to penetrate your thick skull.” Throwing the angry raven against the wall had been so easy, he could have done it while yawning. Almost did, too, for how boring this was. The grip he had had on the other guy’s wrist was used most efficiently, Nikolai releasing it at the last second. The attack had been fast, unexpected, and efficient – if he may say so himself.

He wasted no time in moving close, too, following that guy and keeping him in place with a forearm on the throat. The kid’s bloody fault for being smaller than his opponent. “There you go. Calmed down now? Or is this when you curse me into next Tuesday?” He wouldn’t allow his eyes to break contact with the Ravenclaw’s to check if he still had his wand in hand. In the off chance that he did, then let his worst come, see what he was capable of. Nikolai was, after all, a dark creature and thought very little of the innocent hexes he had encountered so far. This one seemed likelier to bring on the real thing, and he was curious– what would it feel like, how long would he see stars, until he recovered? This was as good a time as any to find out.

Malakai knew better from the start. He had heard from others, not to pick fights with your mouth that you couldn’t back up with your wand or your fists. His own Grandmum, rest her soul, said the same. Tired Malakai did not listen to any rhyme or reason, if he did not live for logic he would barely see that either. That was how he got himself thrown against a wall, wand ready to hex a senior blonde arsehat instead of just mumbling an apology and heading to his bed.

“Aye yer quite the dry shite, huh? Skeletal imitation of a bird? I’m pretty sure me dead grandmum could do bett’r tha’ that.” He was barely speaking the words though; the wind had quite obviously been knocked out of him. Kai was buying himself time to say a proper incantation or at least to catch his own breath. At least the pox had let go of his wrist, so he didn’t have to worry about that breaking for the time being. It still stung quite a bit, definitely was going to be a decent size bruise there by morning time.

Malakai cleared his throat and swiped his hand. “Flipendo Duo.” He spoke it clearly enough and no it wasn’t the flashiest of jinxes but it would get the giant cunt off him and far enough away for him to make his next move, which had to be fast. “Colloshoo.” He laughed after he cast the hex. Wow, he must be tired because he threatened to curse the boy into next week and instead chose a knockback jinx and a hex that sticks his shoes to the floor. Whatever, it still gave him ample opportunity to let him deal with his predicament and make his way to his bedroom for some much-needed rest.

Hugo & Malakai

The Gryffindor common room is usually quite unbearable for Hugo, as it’s more than often filled with the most uproarious and stentorian of his housemates. Earlier on in his Hogwarts career, he typically couldn’t stay in the warm and boisterous room for more than a scant minute or two without becoming irritated. As he grew older, Hugo worked considerably on a single focus, attempting to block out other stimuli. Typically, reading an exceptionally challenging piece of literature or text would often suffice. 

So, Hugo was aptly staggered when someone had engaged him in conversation about his reading. He blinked a few times before turning to the individual, a Ravenclaw which Hugo hadn’t had the privy of speaking with prior. Pursing his lips, he tried to think of where he had spotted the raven-haired boy. Hugo thought he remembered seeing him with Griffin Riley. “Well, yes. I am currently reading Steven Pinker. I’m quite surprised you are familiar with the novel, he is a somewhat unknown muggle linguist and author,” he replied, softly closing said book. “You are Griffin Riley’s friend, if I’m not mistaken.”

Taking the Ravenclaw’s inquiry as an interest in his opinion, he quickly launched into a semi-review of a sort. “As a book on linguistics, I’m afraid it’s not as evidence based as I had wished. Despite this, his sometimes find his elaborate metaphors and whimsical explanations to be very illustrative of his thesis. It’s an interesting light read on how language is an extension of one’s self,” he answered. “Are you perhaps interested in the field of linguistics?” 

“Yes, well, my mother has a doctorate in English and Linguistics. She’s a teacher, so there are quite a lot of linguistic books on the shelves at my home in Ireland.” He answered with a tight-lipped smile and a small nod. “Also, we are a muggle family so….” He was not sure how to finish that sentence so he ended it there, hoping Hugo would get the general idea of where he was going with his train of thought. “Anyways, I have read it in the past and was surprised to see someone reading it here.” The book was not common place in the Wizarding world at all.

“I am dating Griffin Riley, that’s why I am in the Gryffindor common room, yes.” It had to seem strange that he was just lingering there with no explanation. Not a lot of people just lingered in the Ravenclaw common room so he just assumed it was the same in all the common rooms. But, as stated before, he was there for good reason. He really could care less what anyone else thought about his presence there, and besides, he seemed to be making somewhat friendly conversation with someone so that had to be considered a good thing, right?

Jacen managed to put a cap on her excitement on the talk of Malakai’s bright and promising career if only because the subject wasn’t as into it as she was. She knew that she could be a handful from time to time, but the times when she felt actively ignored were few and far between. She hadn’t really expected that from Malakai, especially considering their mutuals, but she did intrude rather rudely on his class time.

“I do have his career to look forward to,” she agreed, but that also brought about a cloud of anxiety at the mere mention. Damien, and she knew she sounded like a broken record by now, did not do things by halves. He was either going to become incredibly successful or become a Disney villain. Rian was going to be a traveler, she couldn’t see hir doing anything else, and her? Jacen wasn’t really sure what she was going to do after Hogwarts, but she’d be damned if she was going to end up a trophy wife. A working trophy wife maybe, and she found herself smirking to herself at the thought.

Jacen bent her head forward, tongue poking out at the side of her mouth as she worked on how she wanted the signature of her married name to look. She frowned after the first few tries and pulled a face. They were dropping Rookwood, she wouldn’t force Damien to keep the name he so adamantly despised. It was at that point that she was glad she didn’t have a glass of water, and even more so that she hadn’t tried taking a drink out of said glass of water because it would be all over the back of the head of the kid sitting in front of her.

Malakai’s words, specifically how he’d phrased them, made her snort into her arm to keep from disturbing the class. ‘We will surely have the chemical reaction to have the place hot enough to fall fast, burn bright, and leave little evidence behind.’ Those words did not have an innocent undertone, and while the hairs at the nape of her neck would rise at the idea of anything actually happening between them, she chirped at Malakai in the quietest laughter-ridden words she could manage. “Oh my god, you guys are fucking! Science brothers and your chemicals, please, stop trying to steal the heart given to me.” And in between wheezes, one could barely make out the ending follow-up. “Griff was right.”

“See, things are coming up Millhouse for both of you already!” He smirked at her. It was apparent to him that they would all end up doing great things and he was all the happier for them. He was not close to many, but those he chose to acquaint he had nothing but well wishes and high hopes for. That made him wonder what she had planned for her own future career. There was, of course, plenty of talents to choose from, he made a mental note to inquire about it when they did not have to whisper back and forth.

While she was occupied doing whatever it was she was doing, he put his attention back on the professor, jotting down what they would be studying over the next few weeks. His interest was piqued at a couple of the charms and he was going to put some extra effort into studying them later to see if he had them down as well as he thought he did.

And hey, maybe he’d save the life of his precious, if he truly had seen it around. Eyes wide open, following the guy’s every move as he dug inside his bag, he couldn’t hold back the gasp when the love of his life was held before him… And well out of reach. Flenn’s body locked up, a tiny little stick in the mud. That asshole didn’t look like he was in any hurry to give him his PSP back, instead asking questions that didn’t require holding somebody else’s tech in hand to get the words out of his mouth. Was he just doing this to be cruel? Elvis had a song discouraging such behaviour.

Malakai took the book that he had been reading and shut it. He took time to gather his things and put them into his satchel. “I have a question.” He stated to the boy while he buckled the satchels straps into place. “Would you mind, and you do not have to by all means, showing me how your PSP works? I have never seen one and I am intrigued.” If he could have a portable device that would work in Hogwarts, he may actually consider asking his parental units for the money to purchase one.

When had the world come to such a place that weaklings like this guy thought they could hold some sort of authority? Really, think about it for a minute. You come face to face with someone in the hallway –which was by then completely deserted, leaving them with ample space to move should they want to. That person is taller than you are, eats three times a day when you obviously have forgotten what food looks like, and could chew you out faster than you can call for help. Even knowing your own skills with a wand, you do ignore those of your adversary. Wouldn’t it be smarter, then, to give up the fight altogether?

Not that Nikolai would ever complain about free samples.

Malakai was gritting his teeth together, clenching past the pain starting to form where Nikolai had hold of his wrist. He twisted, nay tried to twist, his wrist, testing the strength of the grip and mobility. There was little to none. In fact, he was sure that if the Slytherin pressed any harder his wrist was sure to break. The smarter thing to do at this point, by even the dumbest calculations, would be for him to just apologize and submit to whatever else would please the idiot enough to let him be. Malakai was not feeling particularly giving, however, and he just didn’t have it in him to submit to one more gobshite that day.

Oh thank God. Griff and the Bitchasaurus Rex never could be fucked to even playact at civility when out in public and so that meant whenever they were about, they were a goddamn spectacle to behold. This year was nothing less but a shitfest, with Griff furiously snarling at Elizabeth and her, reeking of whatever shitty booze she got her clammy hands on, hissing back to him.

Both Americans, because that’s what this shitbag was regardless of the airs she insisted on and the fucking accent that made him feel like vomiting because it was like listening to someone choking on a 2x4, ended up bitching across the station to the platform and all though Griff checking his trunk, right up to him boarding the godforsaken train. One foot on the step, one hand the only thing keeping Griffin’s dumbass from tipping onto his ass, and the other one raised in a one-fingered salute to the cunt that expelled him. She blew him a kiss before drunkenly stumbling off, teetering off her heels. What a fucking disaster zone.

Griff pawed at his face as if that could erase the last 48 hours spent with his mother as he stumbled his way though the empty corridor. They were always among the first people on the platform, so the train was a fucking desert wasteland when he boarded. He just picked the first cabin that he could, falling face first into it. It was too early, and he knew that once this year picked up, sleep was going to get rarer and rarer, so he curled up in a ball against the wall and napped. That’s honestly the only thing that saved him from company - no one wanted to wake the Sleeping Bitch.

Save, y'know, Kai. But c'mon folks what’s new?

“I do not know how I will ever manage, both the hairy arses in my life leaving me.” He placed the back of his hand to his forehead and fell back to lay on his bench. Malakai split his fingers into a v-shape to peek through at them and offered up a thin lipped smile. He readjusted himself on the bench and opened up one of the manga, crossing his ankles and leaning his back against the side wall. “Do you think you can keep your gross public displays of affection down, some people are trying to read over here.” He let out a forced sigh of disgust and teased at him.

Griffin could probably keep up the antics for the entire train ride, but they both knew that Kai would give in eventually. He would have to get some sort of affection from the boy before they actually stepped foot on Hogwarts grounds, The train would start moving soon, so that only gave them a few hours of alone time before being thrust back into the crowded tables and halls and put back on a schedule other than their own.