Closed Responsibility

Jordan Harris

Musician- Energetic- Friendly- Cuddly
 
Messages
1,824
OOC First Name
Jess S
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Seeing Somebody
Sexual Orientation
Pansexual
Wand
Curly 9 Inch Flexible Black Walnut Wand with Hippogriff Feather Core
Age
20 (12/7/2041)
Jordie was looking forward to patrolling with Celia, despite of how the game had ended. He'd always thought she was a strong person; intelligent, quick on the field. He was looking forward to spending time with her, maybe making a new friend. He hummed happily as he walked down to their agreed meeting spot. It was a bit more out of the way for him, but that was alright, he didn't mind too much. The extra walking helped keep him in shape. He leaned against the wall, knowing he was a bit early, but she'd be by sooner or later.
 
Celia was not looking forward to patrolling with Jordan. Anyone who was friends with Estella and boyfriends with Ares was clearly not a good judge of character, and she shuddered to think what kind of person those two would want to have around. Maybe that was all a bit speculative, but Celia had always believed you could judge a person based on the company they kept. Besides, she was sure Jordan had his own preconceived notions about her. Ares had no doubt filled his head with lies. He was definitely vindictive enough to do that.

Not wanting to spend more time with Jordan than necessary, Celia waited until the last possible second to show up at the Entrance Hall. Thankfully, it wasn't too long of a walk from the Slytherin common room. She was somewhat disappointed to see that Jordan was also on time. If he was late, then she would have had an excuse to patrol by herself. "Alright," she said, barely managing to suppress a sigh at the sight of the Hufflepuff. "Let's get this over with." Celia turned on her heel and started to walk, trusting that he would follow her. But it wasn't long before she realized that she had no idea where she was going. "Is there a specific route we're supposed to walk?"
 
Jordie smiled, oblivious to the girls attitude, and trailed after her happily. "I think we just patrol wherever, really, there aren't any assigned routes that I've noticed," He told her. "We can go through the first few floors, see if there's anything?" He offered, thinking that sounded like enough for one night. He smiled easily at her. "You're one of the beaters for Slytherin, yeah?" He inquired. He loved talking about Quidditch. "You're pretty cool," He commented idly, running a hand through his hair. "You're super skilled on the pitch, and you definitely seem smart in classes. I know Professor Corrins praises you a lot," He commented with a simple sincerity in his tone.
 
Celia was rapidly getting the impression that prefect patrols were just for show, the magical version of security theater. "Sure," she said, not too keen to climb up and down the entire castle. "Are we also allowed to patrol outside?" She had always found the castle suffocating, and it was even more so at night. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if they could go outside. At the mention of Quidditch, Celia stiffened. "Yes," she said, giving Jordan a wary glance. What had Ares told him? Likely nothing good.

To her surprise, Jordan complimented her. And he sounded sincere about it. "...thanks," Celia said after a beat, still not sure where this was going. It was nice to finally have someone recognize her skill on the pitch, but she wasn't ready to let her guard down yet. She frowned a little. "Professor Corrins talks about me in class?" That could be a good thing, as long as she wasn't telling people about their private lessons.
 
Jordie considered her question. "We should be able to, yeah," He nodded, pausing in his tracks and smiling at her. "Would you like to go patrol the grounds instead?" He asked her. He smiled as she confirmed she played, nodding happily. He shook his head though at her question. "Oh, no, she tutors me," He told Celia easily. "She got a rather nasty note from one of the other students one day, I think it bummed her out. I was trying to cheer her up, asked if she had any really outstanding students,"

He smiled, running a hand through his hair. "She said that there were a lot of cranky kids that just wanted to get out of class, but every now and then she had someone naturally gifted and driven like you," He gave her a smile. "I struggle in classes that aren't mystically inclined," He admitted with a shrug. "Did you know that Professor Corrins will keep tutoring you even when you aren't in her class anymore?" He chuckled. "Though I've got so much going on half the time she slips me those calming teas until I pass out on that big leather couch in her office."
 
Jordan seemed to be fairly amenable to her suggestions. First, he'd agreed to meet at the Entrance Hall. And now he was offering to patrol outside with her. She wasn't used to dealing with someone this agreeable, and it made her a little suspicious. So she decided to call his bluff. "Yeah, let's go outside." Celia reversed course and shoved the castle's heavy door open, shivering a little at the blast of cold air. She'd left her cloak in her dorm, but she didn't mind the chilly weather too much. This was better than the stuffy castle.

Celia was a little surprised to hear that Jordan was being tutored. She would've thought that good grades were one of the requirements to being named prefect. "She seems to get a lot of those," Celia muttered. She fell silent as Jordan relayed Professor Corrins' words, feeling a small rush of warmth at the compliment (and a little guilt for all the mean things she'd thought about the woman). "Mystically inclined?" she repeated, thinking it was a weird way to say "magical" — unless he meant something else. Though Celia was very familiar with Professor Corrins' selection of calming teas, she didn't want to confirm that she, too, had received private lessons. Instead, she asked, "Is sixth year really that bad?"
 
Jordie followed along after Celia easily. He nodded at her question. "Yeah! Every class is magical, of course, but I do best in like, Astronomy and Divination and Arithmancy, the really mystical classes. I struggle in Transfiguration, Charms, things like that." He explained. He chuckled at her question. "Well, maybe not. But it's harder for me. Hufflepuff lost two prefects before me- one had their badge taken and another was expelled. I have to really step up my game to be worth the badge I was given. I need to do well in my classes, and I'm on the team, so that means I'm jogging twice a day, doing yoga every afternoon and on the pitch three times a week outside of practices. I've also taken in a couple of the younger Hufflepuffs- sometimes we study and sometimes I just hang out with them- then I have band practice a few times a week with Weston, and I have to study a lot for the classes I'm taking. I'm not naturally intelligent, I suppose, so I have to really buckle down to keep good grades." He chattered easily, biting back a yawn.
 
Hmmm, maybe these patrols wouldn't be as terrible as she had thought. It was becoming increasingly clear that Jordie would follow her lead unquestioningly, and Celia decided to head toward the lake. She had zero desire to actually do her job, so she wanted to steer clear of the forest and cliffs. As they walked, Jordie yammered on about his schedule. Much of it was uninteresting though she did snort a little when he admitted he was unintelligent. "Do you always talk this much?" she asked bluntly, curious to see how far she could push him before he snapped (if he ever did).

Celia paused to light the tip of her wand. There was very little moonlight, and while that lack of light made the stars sharper, it was also quite difficult to see. "You know the professors don't actually care about how good of a prefect you are, right? The whole system is arbitrary." Okay, that wasn't completely true. After all, Professor Castillo had pulled her into that bullsh*t meeting at the beginning of the year to remind her of her new responsibilities. But how else did you explain prefect selections like Ares and Liusaidh? "No offense, but it sounds like you're just making things harder on yourself. It's not like all that jogging and yoga has helped Hufflepuff," she said flippantly. The most the Hufflepuff team could hope for at this point was a measly third place finish.
 
Jordie chuckled at her question. "Only if you let me," He teased back, running a hand through his hair. He liked Celia, she was fun. At her comments, he smiled and shook his head. "Maybe," He told her. "But it means more than that to me. Sure, I want to make Professor Carter proud, but I also want to know I did the best I could." He put his hands in his pockets. "Why do something if you aren't going to give it your all?" He replied easily.

"The yoga is more to de-stress, and the jogging keeps me in shape. Hufflepuff aren't the champions, sure, but its the game that counts. I'm not too fussed who wins or loses; I just want to give it my best and have a good time. There will always be a winner and a loser; and sure, being the winner is nice, but I'm not devastated if we lose. That only means that the other team played better; to me, its worth celebrating others' success." He explained, laughing lightly. He doubted it made sense, and she might consider him an idiot, but that was alright.
 
Celia raised her eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?" Jordan's endless chattering hadn't crossed the line into annoying yet (mostly because he'd spent a considerable amount of time complimenting her and insulting himself), but it remained to be determined whether that would still be true in an hour. Celia shook her head. "That's a very Hufflepuff thing to say," she said dismissively. She knew Jordan's question was rhetorical, but she decided to answer it anyways. "Because most of us didn't choose to do this? It's not like anyone has a say over whether they become prefect. The professors just force the responsibilities on us." She also doubted that patrolling the lake, as they were currently doing, could be considered "giving it your all." It was pretty obvious there was no one out here. But she wasn't going to mention that, lest Jordan try to steer them back towards the castle where they would actually have to do work.

Jordan explained his philosophy regarding winning and losing, and Celia stared at him with a mixture of fascination and disgust. "I can't tell if you're joking or not." Except she could. Jordan positively radiated sincereity and earnestness, and she couldn't imagine him ever lying. At the same time, Celia couldn't imagine ever being okay with losing. The people who claimed that winning and losing didn't matter were just losers trying to make themselves feel better. "Even when their success means your own failure?" Celia asked when Jordan tried to claim that others' success was worth celebrating. "Surely it's harder to have a good time when you're constantly losing. If it's only about having fun, then what's the point of doing your best? Why try at all?" she asked, circling back to his original rhetorical question.
 
Jordie laughed lightly at her words. "Playful warning, maybe," He quipped easily. This was nice. He liked Celia, she was fun to hang out with. "Thank you," He countered, oddly pleased. He was proud to be a Hufflepuff, after all. He worked hard for it. He considered her words. "Well... I'm not sure how it is in Slytherin, but Professor Carter only gives out the prefect badges to students who are active in their classes." He spoke slowly. "But I imagine that all the Professors consider their prefects carefully. I think for Slytherin... it seems that Professor Castillo tends to go for the students with the most presence," He offered, looking over to Celia.

He chuckled at her words, smiling easily. "Sure! It's easy to enjoy their success, even if it meant I lost," He quipped. "And I don't think it's fun if you just walk around handing out easy wins. The whole point is that everyone does their best. You're definitely one of the scariest beaters in the school. I think the Slytherin team often gets some of the best players- my sister, Liam Waldgrave, Blake Irons, for example. But that doesn't mean I won't train or do my best to support my team." He explained easily, shrugging.
 
"So I should silencio you sooner rather than later," Celia concluded, though it was an empty threat. She knew better than to hex an older prefect. She did have to roll her eyes as when Jordie thanked her. "It wasn't a compliment." Who in their right mind would want to be part of the leftover house? Surely even the most proud Hufflepuffs were aware of their house's reputation. "Yeah, I don't think that's it," Celia said with an indelicate snort when Jordie tried to offer his theory on prefect selections. Liusaidh and herself aside, none of the other Slytherin prefects had "presence." Most were unremarkable, their only distinguishing characteristic their place (or in Ruben's case, former place) on the Quidditch team. "Half the Slytherin prefects never should've been chosen." Like your boyfriend.

It was truly stunning how complacent Jordie was with his own mediocrity. Celia supposed she shouldn't be surprised. Sometimes she wondered if the whole student body had been brainwashed. How else did you explain the utter lack of ambition in most students and their blind acceptance of this terrible school? Celia smiled a little at the compliment, but she wasn't sure she agreed with Jordie's assessment of the Slytherin team. "I don't think Slytherin magically gets the best players. I think Slytherin trains its players to be the best. No one on the team would be content with failure." Well, no one except Ares, maybe. He seemed pretty content with being the worst beater in the school. "You're never going to win if you're okay with losing."
 
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Jordie laughed lightly. She definitely knew how to make a good joke. He chuckled at her words, smiling. "Hey, I'm proud to be a Hufflepuff. I know the jokes that we're just the leftovers- not smart or brave or cunning enough for the other houses. But I don't think that's true. Hufflepuffs are loyal and hard working. If you believe the hype, Ravenclaws are stuck up intellectuals with no emotions, Slytherins are heartless jerks destined for dark magic and bad people, and Gryffindors are stupid jocks." He shrugged. "I think there's more to everyone than the stereotypes say,"

He folded his hands behind his head, his eyes scanning the grounds. "Slytherin definitely works hard, that goes without saying." He agreed easily. "I think Slytherins have a real drive, a hunger to be the best. As for me, well, I'm not too concerned about being the best so much as I am about doing my best with my team. It's the comradery, the sportsmanship. My team is like my family." He smiled warmly. "Win, lose, it's all the same. We do it together."
 
Celia wondered if anything could bother Jordie. Everyone had their breaking point, and she was becoming more and more determined to find his though she supposed she had all year to do that. "I don't know, those descriptions all sound pretty accurate to me," she said dryly. She'd met a lot of terrible Slytherins and stupid Gryffindors. "The houses are literally based on stereotypes. You can't just pretend they don't apply when there's a magical hat specifically designed to sort people based on personality traits." It was a batsh*t system, but that didn't change the fact that people were put in certain houses because they embodied that house's stereotypes.

Celia shook her head slightly as Jordie continued to talk about how he valued having fun over winning. It was pretty clear they were never going to see eye to eye on this issue. "I don't know, from what I've heard, if the Hufflepuff team is a family, it's a pretty dysfunctional one," she said, glancing sidelong at Jordie. "Didn't one of your captains blow up a couple years ago and kick someone off the team?" If only Liusaidh would do the same...
 
Jordie chuckled. "Hey, I didn't say the stereotypes were wrong." He told her easily. "But isn't it a bit superficial to just let someone elses preconceptions color how you see the world?" He asked her. "I think you're cunning and ambitious, intelligent, strong-willed, stubborn. But if I let the stereotypes win and just believed you were a horrible person willing to sacrifice babies to get what you want, well, I wouldn't get the chance to know you." He told her.

He rubbed the back of his neck when she mentioned the spat a few years back. "Aren't all families at least a bit dysfunctional?" He countered. "If someone tells you their family is perfect, they're lying." He laughed lightly. "But yeah, the keeper Linden got kicked off of the team by Connor. Linden was usually helping out the chasers, calling out helpful tips and things, stepping out of his lane I guess," He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I can't say I understood it, but still." He shrugged.
 
Celia shrugged. "They're a shortcut when you don't know anything else about someone." She was well aware of the ways stereotypes could be harmful, but she didn't think those applied to the house system, which was literally built on stereotypes. "Why would you think I'm stubborn?" Celia asked with a frown. If anything, she was the most godd*mn flexible person in the world, considering the amount of sh*t she'd had to put up with during her life. "You don't know me," she said bluntly when Jordie tried to insinuate otherwise. So what if they'd been on a few patrols together? That didn't mean he knew her.

Celia refused to take the bait. "Speak for yourself. A lot of people have happy families." Not her, but she wasn't about to let on otherwise. Celia was rather disappointed when Jordie's account of the Linden-Connor dispute matched René's. She had been hoping there was more drama to the story. "Sounds like a really healthy team dynamic," she said sarcastically. "But I guess you're right," she added with a cheerful insincerity. "The stereotypes aren't true. Camaraderie isn't a universal Hufflepuff value."
 
Jordie chuckled. "Well, true. It could be a bit of an insight into what they value most," He offered. At her question, he smiled, and he couldn't help but chuckle again at her words. "Sure, I don't know you well." He offered. "But I would be blind to not know anything. You're stubborn because no matter what happens, you won't let anything stop you." He countered easily. "You're intelligent, driven, you go after what you want and you don't let anything hold you back." He told her. "You're the fiercest beater in the school, and you're proud." Jordie offered her an easy smile.

Jordie laughed at her comments. "Oh, no, that's where you're wrong," He teased her. "Camaraderie is both the Hufflepuffs biggest strength and it's biggest weakness. The love mess in that year was insane." He chuckled. "Lucas dated Connor, and I think Lucas and Kas had a thing, but Connor and Kas would hang out a lot, and when Linden got kicked off the team he was dating Lucas, and after Lucas broke up with Linden, Linden got with their other roommate Casper, the guy that ran the arts club, and rumor has it that Casper and Lucas had gone on a date before too," He laughed, running his hand through his hair. "Honestly if you weren't paying attention it was hard to figure out who was with who at any given moment."
 
For years, Celia had chased after popularity, wanting to be the most well-liked (or at least respected) girl at Hogwarts. It had quickly become clear that wasn't in the cards for her. But judging by Jordie's comments, she had at least succeeded in gaining some notoriety, which wasn't a terrible consolation prize. If she couldn't be well-liked, she at least wanted to be well-known. "I'm persistent, not stubborn," she corrected. Stubborn was what you called a mule. A ghost of a smile tugged at her lips when he called her the fiercest beater at the school. "You should tell Ares that," she couldn't help but goad.

Celia's eyes widened a little when Jordie launched into a deep dive of the team's romantic drama. Finally. This was the gossip she had been looking for. And it was delightfully juicy. "Wow. That sounds so messy. That year must've been hard," she said sympathetically though the gleam in her eyes suggested she felt otherwise. "What about now? Have things improved now that they're all gone?" Celia would have normally taken a more subtle approach, but it was clear Jordie had no qualms about sharing Hufflepuff Quidditch gossip.
 
Jordie chuckled. "Persistent, stubborn, two sides of the same coin." He teased. He smiled shyly as she mentioned Ares. "Now, I love Ares, and he is a good beater, I just know you tend to hit a lot harder," He chuckled. "Though he might just go easy on me," He mused.

He shrugged as she said that year must have been hard. "Well, a little awkward maybe, but that's alright. I think things have settled for now, there's not too much drama on the team. We all get on really well," He told her easily. "I'm afraid the most scandalous thing these days is my crazy schedule,' He teased, laughing gently.
 

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