Open Everything and nothing

[Ruby Beese]

Ruby loitered just inside the entrance of the Great Hall, chewing her thumbnail and looking down at the Hufflepuff table at the lunch selection. She didn't see anything that she liked the look of, and it made her wish Christmas would come sooner, when she could go home. Back home, her mum knew exactly how she liked meals. Like how she liked the sauce separate to the macaroni, or chicken cooked with no seasoning. Hogwarts meals weren’t bad, she usually did find something to have in the end, they just weren’t made for her and her fussy habits. At least the house elves avoided magical tweaks on foods during meals. Like chocolate frogs for example. Ruby wondered what maniac thought chocolate should look alive and jump out of your hand when you go to take a bite. And don't even get her started on Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Seriously, just don't. Ruby let out a soft sigh. Maybe one of the other house tables would have something she liked the look of. She turned to inspect the Ravenclaw table next.

@Freddie Lagowski

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

No sticker… No sticker… No sticker… Sticker! Freddie peeled the green circle off the banana and slapped it on his arm, next to the one he got from the orange. Was that the last fruit bowl? Freddie started walking back down the table again, just in case he’d missed any. Nope. Huh. Yesterday, he got five stickers, and the day before that, he got eight. Was someone else taking them just ‘cause he did? He didn’t even want them. They were for Declan - he collected.

Freddie stopped in front of Ruby, and frowned. What was she doing? Was she taking his stickers? Hmm. That would make sense. He didn’t see any on her though. “What are you looking for? he asked, reaching over the bench for a clean plate. Clean-ish. ”Did you run out of apple juice?” Someone in Hufflepuff reeeally liked apple juice, ‘cause they were always over asking for more. She could have some, but he wanted some first.​

 

[Ruby Beese]

Ruby’s expression dropped to one of disappointment as she inspected the Ravenclaw table. It was just more of the same again which meant she'd probably end up settling for roast potatoes in the end, if they weren't crispy that is. She turned back around just as Freddie materialised, asking if she was looking for something. “I’m looking..." she started, “...for food that doesn’t look weird.” She shot him a flat look at the apple juice question. “No. I don’t drink apple juice. Because it looks like wee and I don't drink wee, Freddie.” She glanced at his arm with apple stickers and gave him a strange look. Ruby wasn't going to ask. She was too busy to ask about that.

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

Food that didn't look weird? Freddie could see lots of food that didn't look weird. Pretty much all of it looked normal, actually, except the mashed potatoes, which someone had put a sausage in. Like, upright. Trying to be funny. But it wasn’t funny, ‘cause now the potatoes had meat in them, and he didn't want them any more. Was Ruby a vegetarian too?

Freddie laughed, holding the plate like a wheel, tilting it backwards and forwards. "Yeah, it does," he said. She was funny. "It doesn't taste like wee though. Probably. Like - I dunno." Wasn't like he'd ever drank it either. Someone dared him him to once. Kicked him out of their game, 'cause he wouldn't do it, and that was the rules, they said - you had to do the dare no matter what, or you were out. They just gave him a bad one so he'd be out faster. He knew they did.

Ruby was looking at him funny. He pulled his sleeve down over the stickers, which wasn't easy, because he was still holding the plate. "They're for my friend. He collects them." Hmm. People were gonna get mad at her, taking stuff from the Ravenclaw table. Not if he took it for her, though. They couldn't get mad at him - he was a Ravenclaw too. "What do you want? A sandwich? We got cheese. Baked potatoes? Oh - follow me. All the good stuff's over here."​

 

[Ruby Beese]

Ruby wrinkled her nose at Freddie saying apple juice didn't taste like wee, which means he had tried one or both of them before. "I’ll take your word for it," she said flatly. The association with wee was already burned into her brain and there was no coming back from that.

When he mentioned the stickers, she nodded. "Yeah?" Then muttered quietly to herself, "Don’t remember asking." She followed as he walked, her eyes narrowing at him rather than the food. Something looked off with the way he walked and she wondered if Freddie knew he was doing a weird walk, maybe he was trying to be funny she wondered. "You walk funny," she pointed out, blunt as ever. "Is that, like, normal? Do you normally limp?"

Godmod approved

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

The good stuff was always at the end of the table - probably 'cause it got passed down there and then never got passed back again. Roast potatoes... salad... pizza... He stopped to grab himself a couple slices of cheese and tomato but froze as he leaned over the table. Only for half a second. Maybe she didn't even see. Then he carried on, like nothing had happened. "What? No," he said. "Look at my face. I got in a fight. Bruise. Bruise." He pointed to them. They were almost gone now, but you could still see them if you looked close. "See?"

He stood back from the table, taking a tiny bite of pizza. There was more stuff just a bit further up, but he didn't wanna walk now she was watching. "That's really rude to ask, by the way," he added, though he wasn't really mad. People asked way less nicely all the time. "Like, you shouldn't ask that. Do you like pizza? This one's cheese and tomato."​

 

[Ruby Beese]

Ruby tilted her head and inspected the bruising, she could hardly see anything but now Freddie had said, she could see something. She thought it looked a little like he had accidentally rubbed ink on his face during class or something. “What are you getting in fights for?" she asked curiously and sounding also a little jealous that he had been in a fight without her. "I can fight too, so if you need someone taken care of, just let me know, okay?" She had offered the same to a Hufflepuff and had a barrage of no's but Freddie was a Ravenclaw and they were built different. She wasn’t sure why she was offering though if he could handle himself maybe she felt bad for Freddie. He looked like he'd come off worse, especially if the limp was anything to go by. Then again, she hadn’t seen the other guy. For all she knew, they were rotting in the hospital wing right now.

She disagreed with his comment and told him so, "I don’t think it’s rude. If I showed up with a limp tomorrow, are you telling me you wouldn’t ask why I have a limp?" Then she turned her nose up at the pizza. “I only like pizza if the dough and toppings are cooked separately,” she said, squinting at the slice. “These have definitely been cooked together. So, no. No thank you.”