line of fire

"Aww, not even my favourite ones?"

At the very mention of his arse, she pulled the most disgusted face she could muster for a split second before pushing Darren gently. "Absolutely beastly, Darren. Gross." Zinnia couldn't handle teenage boys sometimes; Kaleb himself could be pretty crude, but she had learned how to never give him a chance with the topics of conversations chosen. She raised an eyebrow, looking him over for a moment before smiling gently. Being in Slytherin meant having a thick skin.

"I’m The Teddy Lupin? I hope I’ve been living up to the expectations then." He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about knowing his reputation had remained up and running even after coming back as a teacher, especially since he wasn’t even sure what kind of reputation it was any more. He certainly felt a little bit apprehensive about it, but less so than he did when he was a student. "You can go back and tell everyone that I’m as wonderful and cool as they think, right?"

"Oh, I'll be sure to tell everyone that they were extremely spot-on with how fantastic you are, sir." Zinnia, surprising even herself, didn't sound the least bit sarcastic as she smiled at him. "James has told me a few things, though nothing but good, I promise." She cast her eyes down to the chocolate, grateful for the effort he had made. It was stupid, how much little things like breaking up a person's chocolate, mattered to her, but they mattered a great deal. "Never, eh?" A mischievous look caught in her eyes. "We'll see about that." 

"Hold that pose, love." teased Darren, he formed a square with his fingers and brought to his eye and made a clicking sound.

"Wolf whistling?" The corners of her lips turned upward despite herself. It wasn't unusual to see her trying to not smile around Darren; letting him know she found him amusing would only encourage him. "Really?" Zinnia didn't like her body, but at least someone around here appreciated it. And even though the thought that perhaps he was just trying to be charming, that perhaps he was only doing that because they were friends did cross her mind, she opted to force herself to think that she was actually attractive and it wasn't simply a pity whistle. She sat herself up and moved over on the blanket, rolling her eyes at his absurd mention of bugs but kept her thoughts to herself. She needed to calm down not flame on.

"A hairy little problem?" Teddy threw his head back laughing. "Nobody would guess that at all. Maybe they think you secretly have bad hair, who knows?" This was not a pity visit: if anyone had suggested otherwise, he’d have thrown them out the room. He sincerely hoped Zinnia didn’t think so. Of course, he hadn’t really known who she was at all when he walked in here, but he’d come out of genuine interest in her well-being. He didn’t come here to feel sorry for her - he came here to get to know her. Already, he liked her. But he wasn’t about to ask how it happened. "Don’t worry. ‘More great’ should be put in the dictionary anyway. A side section for ‘greater’. Most mornings, I need at least half an hour to remember I don’t speak in grunts." Again, he thought of how tired she must be. "Are you sure you shouldn’t be sleeping? Victoire would kill me. I mean, Madame Weasley."

The effort to make her feel better about her less-than-functioning brain made her feel better, if only for a moment. "I'm sure she'll be alright. I could stand some company, especially if that company is The Teddy Lupin." Beyond the horny teenage girls, James had made mention of Teddy once or twice and actually meeting him was going better than she thought it would've. Truthfully, she had tried to avoid him; it wasn't anything personal, but any staff member that wasn't Victoire wasn't someone she wanted to be alone with. She didn't know how they felt about her condition and finding out wasn't something she was keen on. 

Even though the relationship these two shared wasn’t really like a friendship, but more of a relationship almost, Albus still believed that they could be considered friends. He was grateful for that. He was never one to really make friends, so when he stumbled upon some, he made sure not to lose them. “Relax Boot, I was only joking. Believe me, I know I have a say.” He gave her a smile as he hang his lowered his head. “Oh, no. Not at all what so ever. Trust me, this is something I want to do as well.

Thankful that he didn't press the sex issue, she relaxed a bit. Before she could begin to proposition him about the yoga again, he mentioned his guesses as to what her secret might be and Zinnia immediately smirked. "Tell me, what do you think it is?" She looked up at him expectantly, guessing what his guesses might be. Hopefully they'd all be extremely far from what it actually was, but she couldn't imagine what he might think. Perhaps he thought she was actually a well-disguised troll. Or that she had a life-threatening illness. Maybe it was that she was adopted. 

  "Nathaniel isn’t even my name, Nathan is my full name." He whispered back at her, of course he was being a total hypocrite. Since they’d met he’d probably only been accurate with her name ten percent of the time, otherwise she was something beginning with a Z, it didn’t really matter what. He could hardly object when she made a slight error with his. "Anyway they don’t put you in Ravenclaw on account of a lack of brain cells. There’s another house typically with that trait… ah yes it’s Slithering." He said smugly, quite horrified at his own beastliness towards her. Today’s antics were unusually cruel. He began to fee a little bit guilty, he knew that this kind of behaviour wasn’t constructive for anyone. Self deprecation usually seemed to work better to create comedy; perhaps he ought give that a try instead.

Even though he hadn’t really done much - though she’d classify it as verbal abuse - Zinnia was still a bit on the heated side. It didn’t take much, clearly, and she hated that about herself. In the time it took for Nathan to write back to her, she stared the professor down with her nostrils flaring every so often. Keeping in mind that this was something she and Nathan did damn near every class was a good way to keep her from getting more ruthless, besides the fact that he probably didn’t mean a word he said deep down. It couldn’t keep her from getting her stupid feelings hurt, however. Reading the note, she shot him a look, eyebrow raised as she immediately took her quill to the parchment.

He usually spent the weekends visiting Hogsmeade with his gang. They’d fool around in Godric Park, drink a couple of Butterbeers, be a nuisance to the residents and then come back mysteriously drunk. Mindless fun, Darren thought.

Seeing Darren was always a pleasure, which was something she hadn't heard hardly anyone say before. She was well-aware of his reputation of being a bit cruel, but that wasn't anything special or unique; she didn't understand why people played into his game half of the time. He might treat them with a bit more respect if they just calmed down. But that was really none of her concern. He was her friend, one of the best ones she kept from her second year, and she didn't care what any one else felt about him. "This one is called 'I-Saw-It-In-A-Book' and it feels pretty damn great." 

“Oh please. I feel like I can talk about my cousin in any tone that I please thank you very much.” Albus said with a little bit of pride and sarcasm in his voice.  “But believe me, I know that very well. She’s the best of the best. The top of the top. Well that is right under me that is.” He gave the girl a wink clearly showing that he was indeed joking.  “Hey now. Who said you ever had to start listening to me. After all, if I recall correctly it was you who start this whole friendship, was it not?” Albus thought back about it. What would have happened if the two never had their ridiculous debate over pudding? “And Malfoy is nowhere near the next step. He’s more of the last choice.” He easily regained his balance after the girl nudged him a bit.

Her head shook lightly at his responses, trying not to give him the satisfaction of an answer, though that was mostly because she didn't want to answer. She liked to believe that she didn't force people into friendships, but that seemed like how a lot of them happened. Zinnia grew on people, like a mold, and she was partially proud of it. "You have a say in this, silly." She nearly scoffed at his assumption. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do, but if you want to do this, I'd just like to make you aware that I'd like to do it too. Is that so wrong?" 

“You say that now but what happens if let’s just say you’d have to get rid of it, well since you named it, you might not be able too. You see where I’m coming from? And really now? You’re going to listen to Arabella? Merlin, doesn’t that mean you’re going to be listening to Malfoy next?” He shot her a questioning look as they walked arm in arm. In the end, it really didn’t matter much to him, but he loved to tease her here and there. The boy’s eyes squinted shut as they reached the end of the corridor and were outside. His eye’s had always been sensitive to the light, especially during the start of the school year.

"Albus Potter, don't speak in that tone about Arabella. She's actually one of the better sort around this castle." Zinnia shot him a serious look, not playing around about one of her best friends. It was safe to say that, at one point, she had a crush on Arabella, but she didn't do anything about it. Her fondness switched over into the friendship zone and being protective just came with the territory. After a moment, she smiled, easing up with the knowledge that he was just teasing. "I'm already listening to you, so Malfoy is a natural next step, isn't he?" She nudged him with her shoulder, giggling.