Open Excitement Shoved Away

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory knew he was never going to be an ace quidditch player, or even on the team at all, but the fact he had managed the first step in flying was deeply exciting to Gregory. Everything in this world was so cool, and he felt so pleased to be a part of it. It wasn't easy for him, though. The classes with Slytherin put him on edge, the recent run in with Cassius was only just healing up, and he was constantly reminded of the fact as a muggleborn he was below everyone else. Cassius had called him dirt in more ways than one…and Cassius was knowledgable about this world, so he was right. Perhaps that way, managing getting the broom into his hand first time brought him such excitement. But the class had just ended and Gregory was beginning to walk back towards the castle. ​

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cassius Styx was so mad after flying. Was he the only one that really failed with his broom? It never went to his hand! And of all people to receive it easily was someone like Gregory Friend! Cass was in such a bad mood. So, he left toward the castle when he spotted that Hufflepuff that was more successful than him. He was felt rage boil up to his chest as he stormed up to the Hufflepuff, before using both hands to attempt to shove him out of the way, mainly toward the ground. "Watch where you are going, you pathetic excuse for a wizard." The Slytherin cast him a glare as he kept walking toward the castle, with his hands in his pockets. Just so annoying! How dare someone like that be better than him in any way!​

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory was walking back to the school, feeling better and lighter than he had in a little while. It abruptly stopped when a harsh shove sent him to the ground. Gregory, who was already pretty uncoordinated was sure it was just his own tripping, was willing to believe that it had been his own fault, but Cassius' words were enough for him to know that it wasn't that. He glanced up from his spot on the ground watching Cassius retreating and then pushed himself up to be sat on the cold ground. His hands were a little scraped, his chin was a little sore, and his knees were sore. He rolled up one of the trouser legs to the knees and noted it was bleeding too, from a slight scrape. Gregory just stared at it, feeling pretty pathetic. Cassius was just right about some things. ​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

((im so sorry i keep jumping in your threads and being annoying))

Dahlia felt great about flying. Sure, she hadn't actually flown yet, but the broomstick had listened to her and jumped straight into her hand in the class. That had been awesome! She hadn't failed to notice that Cassius hadn't done it, too. So much for family superiority. Nobody else in her family was magical, and she was doing great. She was glad to see that Gregory had gotten it quickly, too. He was nice, and Dahlia was glad there were others like her who didn't come from magic. Even if they wouldn't have normally been friends, she was glad that they were.

She was nursing her stinging palm when she noticed Cassius storming off and knocking someone down - Gregory. Dahlia's eyes narrowed in fury. It was bad enough that he was rude, but now he was shoving people over? She was tempted to run after him and give him a piece of her mind (and possibly knock him over in turn), but thought better of it. Getting expelled week one was a bad idea. Besides, her friend was hurt, so instead Dahlia rushed over to him, crouching down and rummaging through her bag. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, pulling out some bandaids and tissues. Thankfully, she kept a stash on her from playing netball. She'd been shoved to the ground plenty, though she'd also shoved players over too. But it wasn't usually so deliberate, or malicious. "Sorry, they're hot pink bandaids, I hope you don't mind." She'd pulled one out of the box, realizing it might be more of a fashion statement than he wanted. She had her water bottle on hand, just in case. Not that she knew too much about treating scrapes properly, but she could at least help him clean up and get him to a nurse.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory hadn't moved, his eyes fixated on the beads of blood from his knee. He was surprised when someone was crouching in front of him. For a moment Gregory went rigid thinking that Cassius was back to make things worse, the bruise on his nose was just fading away, but his whole body relaxed upon seeing who it was. Dahlia. He liked Dahlia. She was like him, muggleborn. But he thought of that word Cassius had said to him, thought of the things that Cassius said about him, and couldn't imagine them being on her. Dahlia was nice, and she wasn't…she wasn't dirty. He nodded sharply, ”Yeah I'm okay. This isn't the first time I've tripped over my own feet,” Gregory told her, unaware that she had seen exactly what had happened. He looked at the band-aids and the tissues she had before holding out his hand to take a tissue from her to start cleaning up his hands and his knee. ”Thank you,” he gave her a little smile and his words were deeply sincere.​

 

[Terror Zhefarovich]

Terror Zhefarovich left the pitch to see Cassius Styx just fuming over his failure to bring the broom up to him. It was so easy, but there was some mental there that must have stopped the other Slytherin. His red eyes narrowed as he watched his dear cousin shove another first year, someone he recognized as Gregory Friend. Had to be. So, if Terror were to be nice to him, would that just make his cousin even more mad? Well, let's play this out and see how it goes. He approached the Hufflepuff, who was being helped by the Gryffindor girl. The Slytherin caught on to what the latter was saying, before he started to laugh. "Tripped over your own feet? Funny way of saying how my cousin shoved your butt to the ground."​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia couldn't help but frown as he said that he'd tripped over his own feet. That was so obviously not the case, but if he was going to be insistent she'd worry about that later. "'Course, we're friends. I've fallen over heaps playing netball," she explained, digging around in her bag. She had some painkillers too, but maybe that wasn't appropriate to hand out. "You wouldn't believe how many scrapes and bruises I'd get after we played against Wests. Those girls are brutal," she rambled, hoping to distract him a little bit. Dahlia had learned to play it up for penalties, though, instead of pretending it was an accident.

She froze a little hearing the other boy refer to Cassius as his cousin, instinctively moving into a little more of a defensive stance. At least he also saw what had happened, but she was distrustful, sure he'd probably be just as bad. If blood status was such a big thing, then surely his family had the same view that people like her and Gregory were no better than dirt. "If you're gonna finish what your cousin started, then you're gonna have to get through me, first," she said, stubbornly setting her jaw.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory was glad that Dahlia seemed to buy his lie. He gave a weak smile at her calling them friends, and he appreciated her rambling as he slowly wiped his hands with the tissues. ”Thanks Dahlia,” he said quietly as he took the bright pink band-aid and was beginning to try to put it on as another voice spoke. He didn't know them, but he was laughing, and it made Gregory's whole body freeze. Go tight with anxiety. This boy was Cassius' cousin. Gregory could bet that this boy too was pureblood and thought him dirty and worthless. Gregory wiped at his eyes, trying his best to seem a little more together.

It seemed however that Dahlia was quicker than he could be. Putting herself between him and this other boy. ”It's okay Dahlia,” he tried to say, whether it was to ask her to stand down because he, Gregory, was neither worth getting into a fight over, or not worth getting injured because of. Or if in fact he was just getting her to stand down because it wasn't possible that this boy would be exactly like Cassius. ”Cassius didn't trip me up, I just fell,” his voice was tight, he didn't why he was clinging to the lie, it seemed just easier to pretend he had tripped than to admit someone had. ​

 

[Terror Zhefarovich]

Terror smirked even wider as the Gryffindor came forward as if to defend little Gregory from him. He snickered but raised his hands to show that he was unarmed. "Chill. I have interest in my cousin's leftovers. Seems to me like the fight was already over from the moment the Hufflepuff hit the ground. Now, if Cassius was out of his league, then I might have to step in to help because family is family, but nah, no need for that now is there?" Terror's red eyes looked toward Gregory. He was a small boy. Cassius apparently targeted muggle-borns, but Terror had other objectives. But Gregory seemed to be adamant about sticking to his lie. One thing Terror didn't really like, but he shrugged, while putting his arms down. "If you want me to believe your words over my own eyes, so be it." Terror then held his hand out to the two as a greeting. "I'm Terror Zhefarovich. Before either of you assume anything, no I am not a pure-blood, nor do I give a sh*t about blood supremacy. My dad might but he was expelled from here in his third year for failing to kill a muggle-born, so trying not to follow in those footsteps, you know?"​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia kept her jaw stubbornly set, but she wasn't about to get into a fight. She relaxed her stance a little, almost debating whether or not to protest but ultimately deciding it was best not to. She knew Gregory was tripped, not fell, but maybe it was a pride kind of thing. Still, there was something up and Dahlia didn't like that one bit. She raised a hand to give Gregory's shoulder a light tap, not quite a squeeze as she wasn't going to completely invade his personal space. But regardless of social status or anything like that they were friends, especially if they were both in the line of fire for their blood status. He was nice and friendly and the type of boy who ought to have a peaceful existence.

Dahlia raised an eyebrow at the language but didn't call him on it, she'd heard worse. She did freeze a little when this boy, Terror - wizards really did have such weird names - said something about his father trying to kill a muggleborn. "Well, alright," she said, slowly, plainly not trusting him. She supposed it was really answering both of them, though. "Though if you do start following in his footsteps, I won't go down without a fight." It was fairly misplaced bravado, but Dahlia wasn't the type to always think things through. Maybe she shouldn't have been so open about the non magical family thing, but she didn't care. She was who she was, and she knew she belonged at the school as much as anyone else did, be they like her and Gregory or more like Terror or Cassius. Regardless, she did hold her hand out in response. "I'm Dahlia." She was brash and could be rude and hot tempered, but she wasn't poorly raised.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wanted to run away from this conversation, he wasn't reassured by the new boy who'd joined them reassurance that he wouldn't fight them. If only because it helped strengthen Gregory belief that he was nothing. Lower than low. Not worth this boy stepping in. The boy introduced himself, Terror, and that his father had almost killed a muggle-born. He felt Terror's wording was pretty bad for someone like him. What a name. He glanced towards Dahlia, looking to see how she would play it. How she might do it. She was so much braver than he was. He didn't say anything, just remained on the ground, using what Dahlia had given him to slowly clean himself up. ​

 

[Terror Zhefarovich]

Terror knew that it might take some time for them to realize that he was not interested in actually beating them up. He had better things to do with his time. But it already looked like Cassius' enemies were uniting so this would be so interesting to watch. The distrust was there, and Terror could not really blame either of them. "Yeah, pretty sure that's what the other guy said too. Never recovered from what I heard. Not mentally." Terror chuckled as he recalled the incident - which was definitely no laughing matter at all. What sane person would laugh at someone else almost dying, and suffering mentally from it? Apparently, someone like Terror. He reached out and shook her hand because he too was well-mannered, for the most part. His red eyes turned to Gregory, who had yet to get up. He bent over slightly and outstretched his other hand to help the lad up. "Come on. On your feet. It is rude to have a conversation when you are sitting down."​