Nothing To Do

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory was bored following the quidditch game, and since they hadn't actually managed to win the house cup he had nothing to do for a while. Of course the scottish boy was practicing often, he knew he could play better than he had and the boy had hoped that he would manage to in the next few weeks for the next year. So when he got to play again some of his shots might actually land properly. The boy was however, not exactly going to start studying this early in the semester! How dull! But it did mean that he was bored with nothing to do and a school to play with. Following the stern talking to from Professor Styx he was trying his best to stay out of trouble, but this was definitely not as easy as he had thought it might be. For some reason people just got annoyed with him constantly, admittedly he could say he probably caused about forty percent of it, but the rest wasn't and couldn't at all be on him, just it couldn't be. He wasn't that bad surely, but even in saying that, the boy spotted a girl sitting in the courtyard, seemingly by herself and he couldn't help but see an opportunity. The girl was a slytherin for sure but that was all he knew about her currently. He sauntered over to her with a smirk present on his features, "Whatcha daein' there?" he asked just pointing to her person, starting the conversation off quite casually, nothing too bad yet, had to find out first if this would be worth it.
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley sat perched on the wall of the courtyard absently staring at nothing in particular, with her sketchbook closed by her side. It was a moderately sunny afternoon, but none of her friends were around, so Hayley had come here to have a go at sketching some of the elaborate architectural folderols around the courtyard. She'd been meaning to try this for a while, but it hadn't worked out too well. She just wasn't any good at buildings. This was, of course, why she was trying to improve, but for now she had put her sketchbook down in disgust at her own lack of success.

She looked around abruptly when she heard a voice beside her. A boy, who looked a little older than her. She had seen him around Slytherin house, she realised, immediately on her guard. Hayley's general policy of avoiding Slytherins had been working reasonably well for her this year, even if it did leave her a little lonely when her Gryffindor friends weren't available. Her luck had been bound to run out some time, though. Hadn't Tristan said something about a third year with a Scottish accent? Hayley shrugged. "Nothin' much," she said warily, noncommittal. "What're you doing?"

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory was going to try his best to be polite, he of course was sure that he'd find some reason to annoy her, he just didn't want to do it out of the blue but he was bored and he knew he could at the very least try it, and if this girl really gave him nothing to work with he could always find someone else to annoy. After all this girl was a slytherin so that had to account for something, surely. The boy smirked at the younger girl, he knew that this girl at the very least wasn't a third year like him, certainly had to be younger than him, but that was all he knew about it. The boy looked between her and the book that appeared to be at her side, a sketch book or some book of that sort. He did certainly intend to try to find out what was in the book.

The boy scoffed at the question, "Am talkin' tae ye obviously," in response to her question for him, as it was completely obvious that that would be talking to her, that that was what he was doing, "Am just chattin' tae a fellow housemate, nothin' wrong wae that now is there?" he asked with a little smirk playing on to his features. feeling that the questions he was asking were innocent enough, though perhaps not by his tone. That was perhaps less than friendly. He pointed at the note book, "What's that ye got there?" he wanted to just grab it, but he thought that might be a little too forward, let her first tell him what it was, if she did then maybe he could take it, just to get a little laugh out of it, he was just that bored that this would be the most entertaining thing for him.
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[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley shrugged. "Well, you're not wrong." The boy knew as well as she did that that wasn't what she had meant by the question, but if he wanted to play it that way she didn't much care. Hayley noticed his gaze go to her sketchbook, and rested her hand casually next to it, not on it; she didn't want to appear protective over it, not when this stranger was clearly restless and untrustworthy, but nor did she want to be unable to reach it first if he tried to grab it. "Just my sketchbook. I've been doodling bits of the castle. It's pretty wild, right? Who builds castles in New Zealand?" Hayley was angling to mention something that would mark her as a Muggleborn; if he was going to be prejudiced about it she'd prefer to have that out in the open sooner rather than later. The mention of the castle was probably too subtle, but it could provoke more relevant conversation.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory smirked a little, nodding as she replied, a sketch book, now that was interesting. He wondered if perhaps she would let him see it if he asked oh so nicely. Surely it would! Surely she'd let him see it. Slytherin's weren't the nicest but they certainly weren't all horrible. Anabelle was an example of that. He was then curious about her wording, who built castles in New Zealand, was it that wild. Wizards built old style buildings all the time, and the school was meant to be like the old Hogwarts, so surely it made sense to be in a building similar to it. The teen shrugged, "Who wouldnae?" he didn't entirely see a problem with it, perhaps this girl was a muggleborn and therefore had no point of reference for the odd buildings of magical people. He didn't dislike muggleborns, just that he was not yet completely persuaded that they weren't cannibals, that and he'd never really been raised around them, he'd been taught of his status and purity. "Dae muggle no build castles any mare?" the boy asked, if she was a muggleborn she'd know better, she might show herself to be one, but at the very least it was enough of a distraction he hoped as he reached out and attempted to take the sketchbook from her.
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley was startled out of her caution by his nonchalant response. "Are you telling me it's a common thing for wizards to just build castles for the hell of it?" she blurted. No one had ever told her that, not that she'd ever actually discussed the castle thing with anyone. She's assumed that such architecture was considered as outdated in the wizarding world as it was to Muggles. Actually, now she considered it, she couldn't think of a good reason why she'd made that assumption. Wizards were ridiculously old-fashioned in everything else she'd seen, so why wouldn't they build castles? And if they could conceal them from everyone else as easily as they'd hidden Hogwarts, why shouldn't they build castles?

She noticed his hand dart towards her sketchbook and snatched it from the ledge beside her before he could take it. She'd known that would happen. Hayley flicked through the book innocently, wondering if, just for the fun of it, she could fool him into thinking she hadn't realised what he was trying to do. She'd probably moved too fast for that, though. Hayley hated this stage of a confrontation; the boy was clearly angling for a fight, but there was no open hostility quite yet. At least when people were being directly hostile she knew where she stood. "No-one's built castles for centuries," she said slowly, incredulous that he didn't even seem to know that. Hayley hadn't realised, or had realised but not consciously thought about it, just how out of touch wizards were with the normal - the Muggle - world. "Not since way before Europeans came to New Zealand."

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory didn't know if building castles was actually a magical thing, it just seemed that magical people were more inclined to build amazing buildings like hogwarts. At the very least, it showed that this girl was definitely not magical, or she just would've accepted it, having known nothing different, to him it was odd that muggles would stop building castles, but perhaps it was just that wizards had always been the ones to build them, and when they'd gone into hiding muggles had lost that ability. The boy almost felt bad for the silly muggles, not too bad though, just bad enough that he thought about it for that brief second before moving on with his thoughts. He shrugged at her, a little smirk forming on his features which was when he attempted to grab the notebook, though she was faster at grabbing it. The boy laughed lightly most at it, as if trying to play it off like he'd been joking, when he very clearly had not.

"Muggles are dumb that's why they stopped," he told her bluntly with the smirk remaining on his features, hopeful that she might get annoyed about it. He liked irritating people, it was an enjoyable past time, perhaps it wasn't right to be continuing to pick on the girl when he was sure that she was a muggle born and that be reasoning why he continued, but Rory wasn't thinking that much into it. He was just enjoying himself, more and more as he seemed to be doing well in frustrating or at the very least putting this girl on edge, he wasn't going to try for the sketchbook again, not just yet. All in due course, "If they were as smart as wizards they'd be buildin' castles tae,"
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley knew what this boy was trying to do. he wanted to wind her up, so that she would strike the first blow and he could claim she started it. Well, it wouldn't work. Who was she kidding, it was already working. But she wouldn't stoop to his level. At least not until he did first. Hayley kept a tight, though subtle, hold on her sketchbook, and glanced at the boy warily lest he try to steal it again. She forced herself to concentrate on castles rather than her growing anger.

Hayley let out a short, impatient puff of breath. "It's not dumb to stop building castles, dummy." She didn't know much about history, but the reasons people didn't build castles any more were pretty obvious, and not at all stupid. "Castles were built as defensive structures. Technology moved on to the point that castles were useless and impractical. There's no point in building castles any more." Actually, considering the magic she'd seen since coming to Hogwarts, Hayley wondered if there had ever been a point to wizards building castles. Surely there were spells that could break down a castle pretty easily. She supposed they must have been an important defence against Muggles in that period of history when wizards were being persecuted, rather than the other way round. But now, in modern times, it seemed to her that there was just as little point in wizards building castles as Muggles.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

Rory shook his head at her, "Aye it is," he told her bluntly with a small chuckle, he was more than pretty sure that this girl was a muggleborn, just by how she was talking about castles in the muggle world, he didn't think magical people ever really needed castles, but why not build them, why both with anything other than a castle. Houses of course were castles, most buildings in the magical world weren't castles but what was the harm in it really, "Aye but muggles themselves are useless, so they wouldnae know what good fae them if it hit them in the face," Rory chuckled lightly as he said it. He didn't care if she got annoyed at him for it. He really didn't like muggles, he didn't know any actually, he'd met some but he had never really known any. He looked at the girl with a little smirk on his face, "Although ah'm no surprised that a muggleborn like yerself, feels so passionately about how castles are impractical, and since ye've been drawin' this place, I imagine yer maybe coming round tae the idea that muggles are the ones who are useless," he had a taunting hint in his tone, he was just really enjoying this, hoping to wind her up a lot. That would be so much more fun.
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley looked up from her casual browsing of her sketchbook to glare at him. She should have known this would happen - she had known this would happen, but the intensity of her anger surprised even her. "Hey, you know what? F*** you! You can't just stand there and dismiss a whole group of people like that! Have you ever even met a Muggle? I bet you haven't, you people are all so caught up in your f***ed up little world." Hayley was shouting at this point, and she realised with some sense of irony that she had needed this. The tension, the anger about how she was treated as a Muggleborn and what that implied these people thought about Muggles - about everyone she had ever known and loved, bar those friends she'd made at Hogwarts - had been building up inside her. And she hadn't yelled at anyone about it since meeting Rory - the real Rory, her friend - last year. "It's wizards who are useless! You rely on magic for everything so much that nothing ever changes! Muggles have achieved astonishing things - without magic - while you've been stuck in the dark ages. Computers, space travel . . . f***ing ballpoint pens! And you think they're the useless ones!" Actually, this was what had bugged Hayley about her conversation with Tristan, that niggling sense of frustration she hadn't quite been able to put her finger on at the time. It was that he had wanted so desperately to be accepted by magical society, not just in order to live a peaceful existence, but because he, too, perhaps subconsciously, believed that wizards were better. But as far as Hayley could see, magic killed ambition. Purebloods like the ******* in front of her were complacent in their power, so secure in their belief that magic made them invincible that they didn't bother to strive for anything more. Hayley wasn't hypocrite enough to judge that this made Muggles inherently better, but she certainly preferred their worldview.

 

[Rory Fergusson]

The slytherin was surprised that it was these last words that made the girl so very mad, he had to admit it was almost funny to watch a girl scream at him about how muggles weren't bad, how they weren't useless, and he just rolled his eyes at her, computers he had no idea what that was, and who needed space travel. Who needed anything other than magic, it opened so many more doors to them as magical people that simply weren't possible if they were muggles. Muggles were useless, "I heard that all muggles are cannibals," he stated simply, now at this point almost certain that it was untrue but he knew that it would probably rile the girl up more, "Muggles and muggleborns like to think the muggle world is so much better, not in the dark ages because it makes them feel better about their useless world with so little going for it, there are people actively trying to leave the earth for space and not to mention from what I've heard, muggles are so useless that they are killing the planet," he countered having heard that old wild patch leader spout something as silly as that when he'd been at school, "So, clearly muggles are the useless ones," Rory countered, "And clearly you are just as useless as the muggles you were born to," he finished, the smirk ever present on his face.
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Rather than growing angrier, at this latest outrage Hayley burst out laughing. She'd thought he was contemptuous of Muggles out of spite, but no, this was just plain ignorance. Ignorance so intense and ridiculous she couldn't help being amused. "They're not cannibals," she managed through her laughter. "Whoever told you that was just taking advantage of you for being a gullible idiot." Hayley paused, listening with marginally more seriousness to his next set of allegations. "The Muggle world has so much more going for it than you can possibly imagine. They've done most of the stuff you rely on magic for, without magic, through sheer ingenuity. They've done stuff better than you can do with magic. I bet you've never even heard of the internet, but it's amazing. i don't think you lot have anything that can compare." Hayley couldn't really be bothered to explain that last statement any further. It'd be cool if she could goad him into being curious enough to ask her, though. "And it's humans that are killing the planet, not just Muggles. I bet all those big magic fires Hogwarts seems to like so much can't be good for the environment."

 

[Rory Fergusson]

It was probably true to assume that Rory would never truly believe anyone that assured him that muggles were cannibals, while he was pretty certain he was not one hundred percent and that was the difference. He could probably never be convinced entirely. The teen stared at the the girl with a smirk on his face, he liked that it was clearly a sore issue for her, the way wizards looked down upon muggles. He couldn't know any better, he'd never met many, his family lived entirely by magic and he had heard of the internet, he'd spent time in London after all, both when his sister had died and when he'd gotten his wand, but the internet didn't appeal to him much when he could literally make things appear out of thin air. When he could fly on a broom, there was nothing about the muggle world which appealed to him, "Ah've heard of it, spent some time in muggle London when ma sister died, didnae see the appeal, muggles seem obsessed wae it," he retorted actually making more of a point than anything else, "Ah dinnae think so, magical people dinnae dae the same as muggles," he continued, "Muggles are just useless," Rory reiterated his point, "Mudbloods are just as useless, dinnae see the gift their given with magic, always complainin' aboot it, if it's so great how come ye actually join the magical world, you dinnae need tae. No one makes ye," he added almost as an after thought.
​

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley rolled her eyes, and yawned exaggeratedly. "You know you sound like a broken record now, right?" Actually, she wasn't sure he'd know what a record was, but expressions must filter through, right? Yeah. Real Rory had referred to Tui ads one time, and she was from a magical family. Fake Rory seemed more clueless than that. Whatever. She didn't much care if he knew what she was talking about at this point. "Repeating 'muggles are useless' isn't going to make it true. People are people, no matter what weird fantasy skills they have. That's the thing you don't seem to get, and that's what's wrong with this place." She was talking more to herself than to him at this point, musing about his messed up worldview and its implications. His last comment might actually have a point, though. He was right, she didn't need to join the magical world. She could just ditch this sh*t when she finished Hogwarts - or maybe even drop out before that. The idea held some appeal. Magic was cool, bu was it worth all this? But Hayley had a plan now, a purpose. She wanted to change the world, to make steps towards getting rid of stupid attitudes like this one. To make the world better for muggles and wizards alike. "Magic's pretty cool, I'm not complaining about that. It's people like you that need to change."