Closed No Accounting For Taste

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke had spent the whole Winter waiting for her letter for the new year but when her supplies list arrived without a prefect badge she'd felt her heart sink. For awhile, she'd convinced herself there'd been a mistake; that her badge was delayed or on the way with a separate owl, even checking the envelope meticulously for holes or signs it'd been tampered with with no luck. And when no badge arrived before September, Brooke had to accept that someone else must have gotten it. The sting had been lessened on the train when she saw Ivy mercifully was also without one but nothing could have prepared her for the insult to injury that was spotting what was rightfully her badge on Liusaidh Fergusson's robes.

"Styx was surely just having a laugh before he left, right?" Brooke said, waving her spoon around sourly from her seat across from Ivy their first morning back. She couldn't stomach sitting at the Slytherin table just yet, staring at Liusaidh's smug face, and she figured Ivy could commiserate with her. "I bet it's a pure blood thing, that's why she had it. It's no secret Styx has always been a blood supremacist anyway. Plus he was probably going senile. That'll be why he left. I mean he gave my sister a badge too so clearly his judgement's been cloudy for years," Brooke continued, her porridge all but forgotten as she continued speaking, her irritation from yesterday not tempered at all after spending a night in the dorms with Liusaidh.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy had slowly gotten used to the idea of not getting a prefect's badge this year, as much as it frustrated her. Her dad had been upset, which had ruined the whole mood at home for the remainder of the break. Ivy was trying not to think about it too much, but it was difficult to ignore when Brooke seemed to want to talk about it a lot. It didn't help that Delilah had gotten the badge for Ravenclaw, which made her outshine both Brooke and Ivy for what felt like the first time. It was at least sort of nice to be in the same boat as Brooke, Ivy didn't want to imagine what it would have been like for her if both Brooke and Delilah had gotten the badge. Still, she had to admit Brooke had a point. Liuisaidh was a strange choice in any circumstance. "It's probably the pureblood thing," Ivy said with a shrug, tearing a piece of bread into smaller pieces. "He probably did it as a favor to her family or something." She said with a shrug. "We should take bets on how long it takes for her to lose it, honestly."

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke clicked her tongue in agitation when Ivy agreed it was because Liusaidh was pure blood. It had been her own suggestion, but it still infuriated her that it was probably right. "It's stupid," she said, angrily taking a sip of water. "I mean, we're both from respectable families, there's not reason we should have been looked over too. I mean they picked Delilah for Merlin's sake, and her family's a mess," Brooke said hotly. "Knowing her I give her like a week," she said, dropping her chin into her palm and smiling slightly. The idea did make her feel a little better. Maybe if Professor Castillo saw Liusaidh being horrible he'd give her badge over to Brooke. Like a sane person. "I can't believe they picked Flynn too," she added, giving Ivy a sly smile. "Do you think it's cause Professor Kingsley felt bad for him? I wonder," Brooke said, glancing up and down the table in case he was nearby. She knew Flynn had a bit of a sob story, but he wasn't exactly prefect material either. At least they knew it wasn't a favour to his family.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy saw that by agreeing with Brooke, she was only angering her more. But she did really think Liusaidh's status was one of the few reasons she could think of. Ivy shrugged. "I don't think the other heads of houses care as much about family names." She offered mildly. "Delilah is a good student." She added, though she understood Brooke's bitterness. She had also expected both of them to get it before Delilah did. She went on to talk about Flynn and Ivy looked away. Her feelings about Flynn were complicated, it didn't feel as good to trash-talk him as Liusaidh. "I mean, he gets great grades." She mumbled, something that used to irritate her, as he never put any effort into his schoolwork. "Somehow." She added. "I get it more than Liusaidh." She offered, hoping to change the subject back to the Slytherin.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

"The other heads of houses pretend they don't care about family names," Brooke said flippantly, shaking her head. Everyone could go around acting like name and blood-status and reputation didn't mean anything but New Zealand was a small country and Brooke wasn't blind. "The head boy's a Holland, Gryffindor Quidditch captain and prefect is a professor's kid, Linden Cullen's family has strong ministry ties," she said, ticking off her fingers. "Even one of Slytherin's new quidditch captains is Professor Kingsley's daughter. But it's very cute you think that," Brooke said primly, hiding the bitterness that apparently her family name had been enough to get Sydney a badge but not her. She clicked her tongue as Ivy defended Delilah and Flynn's grades, the unspoken acknowledgement that Brooke and Ivy, until recently at least, no doubt had better grades. "It's all politics," she muttered, dropping her chin into her hand, annoyed that even her attempt to rile up Ivy about Flynn hadn't successfully distracted her from her own sour mood. The annoying thing was that Brooke had known it was all about that already, she had just assumed she'd played the game well enough to get the reward. "I bet half of them won't even know what do with their badges anyway," she said, trying to imagine Delilah having to take house points and trying not to cry about to make herself feel better.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy frowned slightly when Brooke went on to talk about other prefects being picked because of their names. She could understand the Holland boy and Lysander Summers, but Linden felt a bit like a stretch even though she didn't say so. Surely plenty of kids had parents in the ministry. But the Slytherin Quidditch captain also being a professor's kid was suspicious, she had to admit. "Sorry, Brooke. I don't spend my free time analyzing everyone's family tree." She snapped at her, not enjoying being called cute or naive. "I'm sure you're right, but then I wonder why Sydney got it and you didn't." She added, aware she was perhaps being a bit blunt. But Brooke hadn't exactly been nice to her. Ivy sighed. "That's true." She said. "Flynn will probably try to lose his on purpose." She said, wondering if he really would.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah had overslept and was now rushing to get down to the great hall in time to get breakfast before lessons started. She had been up half the night tossing and turning as her mind raced useless about all the things she was worried about, like Caleb being alone down in the dungeons, the whole prefect thing, and how Simon was doing. She had no idea where her older brother was and now being back at school it was constantly on her mind. Her body felt heavy as she dragged it over to the Gryffindor table where she saw Ivy and Brooke sitting already. She sat down with a sigh and quickly poured herself some tea. "Good morning." she lightly, still unsure of how lightly she needed to tip toe around her friends. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked while grabbing a piece of toast. She thought she had heard Flynn's name as she approached so her eye's flicked to Ivy who was usually the easier of the two to read.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke sucked on her teeth at Ivy's response, a terrible habit her mum often told her off for, but since she obviously didn't need to worry about trying for prefect or anything this year, she decided she could indulge in some childish habits. "It's good to be aware of these things is all," she said churlishly, finally picking up her spoon to pick at her breakfast. "I bet Sydney ruined it for me. Styx saw what a mess she was and assumed I'd be the same. Wouldn't be the first time," she said with a sigh, dropping her spoon again at the realization her food was well cold now.

"You think? I'd love to see that," Brooke started when Ivy mentioned Flynn, pausing when Delilah joined them, pursing her lips for a moment as she sat down. "Oh not much. Just all the fun new changes this year," she said, voice falsely bright. "How's the new prefect badge? No trouble yet?"

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy tilted her head as Brooke said it was probably Sydney's fault. She had to admit, that sounded somewhat likely. "That... is possible." She admitted. "But I doubt Liusaidh was a better choice in his mind." She sighed. "Probably picked her as a joke, knowing he wouldn't have to actually deal with her." She told Brooke with a slight frown. Ivy looked up when Delilah joined them and considered warning her to leave with Brooke like this. But then again, Ivy felt bitter towards her too. Out of the three of them, she had expected Delilah to get it the least. "We were talking about how little Liusaidh deserves her badge." She told Delilah, translating Brooke's words for her.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah paused her chewing as Brooke immediately brought up the badge that was now uncomfortably prominently pinned on her robes. Apparently treading lightly wouldn’t help her at this point. She felt hyper aware of her movements as she put down her toast and picked up a cup of tea to help swallow the bite of toast that now felt like a boulder stuck in her throat. She was grateful for the time to put together her thoughts and glanced at Ivy when she explained they had been talking about Liusaidh. “No, no trouble yet.” she said simply. “Our first prefect meeting isn’t until tomorrow so I’m not even sure what I’m doing yet.” she said quickly and wondered if admitting any kind of weakness could be turned against her. Or maybe it would make her look humble? She wasn’t sure how to respond to Ivy’s comment though. Agreeing with the Head’s of House would mean she agreed with her friend's lack of badges. But disagreeing would be admitting she didn't deserve it herself. She took another sip of tea to think. “She’s definitely not who I would have picked.” she said finally. It was true and she felt like it was a neutral enough statement for now.