Round Robin

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon silently made his way out of the kitchens and snuck back to the courtyards. It was the middle of the day, but he'd become good at sneaking from a young age. Hiding his abilities was not hard, mostly he just had to keep his mouth closed and it wasn't like he was accidentally reading people's minds, he was just talking to snakes. It wasn't so bad, as far as that sort of thing went and it wasn't so much that Zennon wanted to pretend it didn't exist, he actually kind of liked it. It was what others would think of him that worried him most. Zennon was proud of his heritage, he'd never had reason not to be, but discovering his ability at a young age and with little access to books adult enough to research it, the only parselmouth's that he had to look at, were those who used their ability in darkness. Something Zennon greatly wanted to remove himself from. He'd never thought about wanting to follow in any big bad's footsteps, but he was sure others would not necessarily see it that way. So, as much as he despised liars, he was becoming one of them. Or atleast, he wasn't being totally truthful.

Removing the-not-so-great-smelling tuna from his bag, Zennon leaned over the courtyard bench to drop pieces of it to the snake and his family. Zennon had found the poor things early in the year, trapped in a bush. The female (Zennon called her Shiha, her natural name was confusing to the ear) had been injured and counted move and the male (whom Zennon called Whipser, as he seemed to always whisper) had stayed with her to protect her. They were weary of Zennon until he spoke to them and they realised he wasn't a threat. Zennon couldn't imagine how they'd gotten to New Zealand, the country wasn't exactly known for its giant snake populations and neither of the mated pair would tell him. Since finding them, he'd helped nurse Shiha back to health by bringing them food from the kitchens when he could and they'd have a lovely old chat. They were both appearing much stronger these days and Zennon knew it would not be long until they were on their way again. "I really don't mind bringing you food, you know. You're like a secret friend no one knows I have." Shiha laughed slightly in her snakey way, it was a strange sound on a snake that really sounded like hurried hissing. Zennon knew they had to move on, but he would miss them. "Will you visit?" Whisper moved in a way that could be seen as a shrug and Zennon sighed. He figured as much. He was a human and they were snakes. He wasn't exactly their favourite creature on the planet and they weren't the normal sort of friends.

It wasn't that Zennon had no friends, he just could be himself around snakes, because he didn't have to hide who he was and they didn't judge him, at least none of the snakes did that he'd met thus far. "I have to head back, someone might see us. I'll meet you later. Any preference?" Both Whisper and Shiha looked at him and he nodded. "Noted, anything meat. Got it."
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[Gwen Owens-Lee]

With the exams over and the semester so close to coming to an end, Gwen had a lot of weight off her shoulders. She had just finished eating lunch in the Great Hall, and with studying not needed on the agenda anymore, the girl happily made her way outside. She hoped that the next semester would be better with the new year beginning and tried to stay positive. If it weren't for the Revolution, Gwen would have quite enjoyed her first semester, but she tried not to think about this anymore despite the fact it was always on her mind. After all, whoever came up with it surely knew it was a stupid idea by now, but something also told Gwen that it wasn't the end of the chaos as she thought that someone with such determination wouldn't give up that easily, especially considering the one to start it was a Slytherin. Gwen admired Slytherin's ambition, but sometimes she thought they could take it too far.

As Gwen made her way out to the courtyard she couldn't help but notice her Slytherin friend Zennon leaning over one of the benches. Gwen raised her eyebrow at this, wondering what on earth he was doing. He seemed to be throwing food to something, and upon further inspection, Gwen noticed a couple of snakes taking the food that he was giving them. He was talking to them too and Gwen's eyes widened, wondering if whether or not she should intervene. She stayed back and continued to watch him however, keeping a close eye on what he would do next. She knew Slytherin's could be unpredictable at times, and with snakes as Slytherins mascot, Gwen wasn't really sure what to except with the situation. As he began to walk away from the snakes, it took a lot of courage for Gwen to walk towards him. "Are those... snakes?" she asked, gesturing back to the bench. Somehow she was scared of what could happen, but she still trusted Zennon enough to ask him what he was doing in hopes it wasn't anything bad.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon's eyes widened as he almost walked straight into Gwen. He'd met her up in the towers not long after the revolution and he considered her a friend, but she wasn't someone he was comfortable telling his private life to. He looked over his shoulder at the receding snakes and smiled. He had to get her to forget about what she had seen. He would not be losing a friend over this, he refused. "Hey! Yeah, they're gone now though, so it's okay. I have pet snakes at home, so I know how to treat them." he said, hoping she hadn't seen his moments hesitation. He was good at lying, he just hated having to do it. But this was not a secret he was comfortable with and if he could take it to his grave he would. Something like this wasn't discussed over a friendly conversation, it couldn't be, not with the implications of it. Gwen would freak out and hate him, even if she didn't know anything about it. They all would. It was what people did. "Snakes aren't native to New Zealand you see, so they have a lot of predators here, like birds and there's not a lot of food for them, a couple of kids were casting spells at them, so I got a professor to send them away and then I bought them some food." A lie, but at least it held some truth. "I was just heading to the library, wanna come?" he wanted to get her away from here. He couldn't have her hanging around in case the snakes came back.
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[Gwen Owens-Lee]

When Gwen first met Zennon she felt as though she could really trust him. His similar opinion on the revolution was what made them bond and she couldn't be more thankful at the time for meeting someone who shared her feelings so she knew she wasn't alone. However, when Zennon spoke to Gwen about the snakes, she wasn't really sure if she should trust him as much anymore. Gwen raised an eyebrow at him as she tried to think of a response. Something inside of her wanted to argue with him and tell him that she saw him talking to them and that she wasn't sure they were really gone. Instead, Gwen shook her head. "Are you sure they weren't your pets?" she asked him, not meaning to sound rude. "Snakes are predators too. I don't think a professor would have cared if some students were casting spells at it, but you're a good liar, and I admire that." She winked at him. "You don't have to tell me, so let's go to the library. Maybe they have some books about snakes in there." With a smile, Gwen turned around in the direction of the library, not caring about what Zennon was up to anymore.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon frowned. He didn't appreciate being called a liar, despite the fact he was, in fact, lying. There's no way she could know that, Zennon knew he was a great liar, but he wasn't sure how to get himself out of this situation without making himself appear more guilty than he was. The nerve of hr though, telling him that a Professor wouldn't try to defend an innocent creature. It wasn't like they were Tiger snakes or anything, just little pythons, they were mostly harmless. "Well, everything is a predator to something." He spoke, his tone short. "I'm a little offended that you would think the Professors here would allow bullies to torture poor defenseless creatures. They're pythons, they're harmless. The female one was pregnant and she couldn't get her own food. They students were older so I had to get help." He said, crossing his arms. He was sorry if she was seeing a flaw here, but he'd only told her something that was plausible, he wasn't stupid enough to tell a dumb lie. "I don't think I want to go to the library with you anymore, go by yourself." He huffed, turning away from Gwen and sitting back on the bench he'd just been leaning over. If Gwen wanted to go to the library without him, he didn't care anyway!
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[Gwen Owens-Lee]

Gwen smirked as Zennon tried to defend himself, not really caring anymore about the snakes. They were not going to affect her if she didn't stick her nose into it, but she still appreciated how Zennon was standing up for himself, even though Gwen still didn't believe him. However, he seemed to know quite a lot about snakes since he could identify the female and that it was pregnant, and Gwen nodded at this. As he refused her offer, she frowned. "Don't be silly!" she exclaimed, disappointed that he became so worked up on it. It was not any of Gwen's business and she respected that. "I don't really care about those snakes. I just want to have fun. What about if we go to the lakefront!? They have lots of creatures in the lake, but I've never seen them before. Maybe we could try to find some together?" Gwen just wanted to hang out with her only friend and it slightly upset her that Zennon didn't seem to really want to.