The Bored Trickster

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie Mitchell was bored out of his mind. Breakfast had just ended and the heavy rain outside had made his original plan of going outside wash away before his very eyes. Lucien really didn't like it when he dragged mud and water into the common room, and out of respect for his friend he was trying to be mindful of that, Lucien had made it really clear that he didn't like it. It just meant that today as he was attempting to figure out what to do, the teen was incredibly bored. The library wasn't fun, he didn't want to play the piano, he wanted to search for the room but he would wait for Marcel to do that, he had nothing to do. The slytherin teen had his newest rocks in his pocket which he had collected a few days prior, the ones he had he liked but wasn't too sure when it came to keeping them as in if he should keep them or not. Some of the time it just required him to use them to figure out if they were of use to him. Avie was bored, and searching for something to do. He was trying his best to remain calm and not do anything too crazy but this wouldn't last long the more he just walked around aimlessly with nothing to do, nothing to occupy him or his mind. He started doing bunny hops up the stairs, attempting to see how far he could get with each hop, that was really only about two steps. While he was taller than he'd been as a first year, Avie had not quite hit his full growth spurt and so jumping up steps was not as easy as it would be if he were taller. He got to the sixth floor with his bunny hops, having started at the third and it was then that he missed the step and fell unceremoniously on to the ground with a resounding thud.

The fall winded Avie, and he groaned loudly ever so slightly dazed, flipping himself on to his stomach to figure out if he was hurt any where on his body. Not bothering however to get himself to his feet, even upon see he was fine. He was bored, and so he said as much, for the first time that day not even keeping it to himself. Yelling out the word not caring about who might hear him say such a thing. He turned his head and looked down the stairs, wondering how fun it would be to roll down the stairs. The little voice of reason in his mind that usually remained pretty quiet spoke up at this point to tell Avie that was a bad idea. So, instead he just yelled out the word bored again, listening to the voice was usually the right thing to do. Stretching himself along several steps he sighed loudly. He didn't know what to do. Maybe he could lie here and pretend he was dead until someone came along and then he could scare them when they tried to help. Perhaps that was an idea, he'd be lying with his eyes closed and it wouldn't be far off from what he was doing now. It would just require him to remain perfectly still which was a thing that was hard. However without anything else to do, Avie got himself into the most comfortable position he could managed on cold stone steps but the one that would also give the best impression of him being dead or hurt and closed his eyes. Waiting for someone to come so he could scare them, hoping also that in lying with his eyes closed on the ground he wouldn't accidentally fall asleep.
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella left the owlery, clutching onto a few Muggle magazine clippings and another letter her Mom had sent her. She was grateful that her Mother was keeping in touch, though slightly disappointed to hear that her Father was busy working on an upcoming film and 'Hadn't had time' to write. But what Stella could live without were the Muggle world updates. She didn't dare ask her Mother to stop sending her the articles; she needed to know what the Muggles were saying about her. Yet still, reading them tore her apart, only strengthening the longing she had to return home and dismiss the rumours the Muggles were spreading about her. Stella still felt strange calling normal people 'Muggles', and hadn't quite got into the habit of it yet. To her, 'Muggles' were just regular people, whilst Witches and Wizards were the unusual folk. Part of her wondered, or perhaps hoped, that she was experiencing an extremely long dream and would wake up at any moment. As she traversed the seventh floor corridor, deciding to take the scenic way back through the castle to give her time to think over the articles before she burned them in the Hufflepuff fireplace, she wondered what parts of being a Witch she would miss if it were all a dream. There weren't many parts, although when she wasn't feeling sick to her stomach, she had to admit the food was delicious. Her family had a cook, but he wasn't anywhere near as talented as the house elves in the Hogwarts kitchens. She would've missed being able to make things float in mid air, and perhaps being able to fly, but that was it.

As Stella travelled through the castle and turned onto the sixth floor corridor, she heard a male voice yell in the distance. She cocked her head, wondering whether it was a cry for help or just someone having fun with their friends. It didn't sound like a distressed yell, although she couldn't work out what they'd said. The same noise rung out again, and Stella's pace quickened down the corridor towards the noise. As she spotted a figure at the end of the corridor, she hurried faster still, her heart pounding not only from the exertion, but also in great concern. There was a figure lying on the floor! Stella broke into a run, stopping only when she was a few feet from what she could now see was a Slytherin student. He looked considerably older than her, though it was hard to tell as his eyes were shut and his head turned away from her. Oh my gosh! Is he okay? Is he dead? Did he pass out? Did someone hurt him? Stella's mind raced with all the possibilities of the situation. Filled with adrenaline, she completely forgot to speak to him first and ask if he was okay, and immediately decided that putting him into the recovery position and getting a Professor was the best course of action. She placed one hand on his back, and used the other to grip his leg and try to pull him into the right position, completely unaware that he was, in fact, awake, and that she possibly touching his leg in a rather inappropriate way for someone who wasn't unconscious.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie was sure that he wouldn't have to wait too long for someone to find him, the school was a busy place. He was on the stairs and in a very easy position, easily spottable, and in an area of the school that was well populated. The slytherin teen just had to hope it really didn't take too long for someone, that this moment wasn't the one time when the corridor was engulfed in silence and no one passed. As much as this was turning out to be pretty fun and Avie was looking forward to scaring someone, he knew it would be a matter of time before he started moving around, or needing to pee and therefore ruining it. Which would ruin the fun that he was attempting to have with whomever might end up crossing his path, it really would. Footsteps in the distance made Avie freeze further, remaining as motionless as he could, hoping that this person whomever they were was heading towards him and not in the other direction. He remained as motionless as he could, not wanting to give his game away. He knew that he wouldn't be able to jump straight away, he needed to be sure the person believed his farce and was attempting to help him. Avie was hoping that the person approaching wouldn't be a professor, he knew it would still be fun but Avie doubted they would think as much, he could almost imagine the boring lecture about messing around and the story about the boy who cried wolf which was always told to him after he tried to scare people, though he didn't quite understand the story itself, it was funny. A student might be better than a professor in this prank.

Avie just remained still, trying to hide most signs that he was awake, as the footsteps got louder and louder, his ears picked up that she was running towards him, this was it, time to shine. Avie was practically holding his breath, he could feel laughter boiling within him practically ready to burst out of him, but he focused himself, steeled himself for this. This was the important bit, they really needed to believe that he was harmed in some way so that they would help and not just walk away. But, it was pretty clear from the get go that this person believed his prank. The person was doing something, placing a hand on his back and then also put a hand on his leg, attempting to move him, Avie remained still. He waited a few moments, steadying and readying himself for his big reveal and then all of a sudden he grabbed the person's hand which was on his leg and, "BOO!" he exclaimed loudly, sitting straight up as he did so. He was facing the person now, his face with clear jubilation written all over it over how well he'd managed that, how easy that had been. Not even attempting to hide his joy. He didn't care that it was probably really mean of him to do it. He had enjoyed himself and that was all that was important in that moment to him. Not this person's feelings, or anything like that. Just that he had probably managed to scare her and that was good fun to him.
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella's heart was racing wildly as she tried to move the boy. She herself had fainted once before, and after that had vowed to learn some basic first aid in case she was ever in a situation that might need it. She had been rather hoping that time would never come, but now that it had, she was grateful for her training. Stella wheezed, trying to pull to boy onto his side but struggling greatly. She was panicking internally, praying that he was going to be all right. It was quite embarrassing to have any sort of medical accident in public, and Stella was quickly thinking of what to say when he came round. All of a sudden, the Slytherin boy grabbed her arm, sat up and yelled 'Boo!' If she had been standing, Stella would have jumped back in shock, however she had been crouching beside the boy so all she achieved was falling onto her bottom. "What?" Stella exclaimed aloud, still in shock as his face had been so close to hers when he yelled. A frown formed on her face as she put two and two together. "You were faking it?!" She said in disbelief, her heart feeling as though it was going to explode under her chest. She didn't know whether to feel relieved, amused, or very very angry. Unfortunately for the boy, she chose the last.

Stella got onto her knees to put herself at the same height as the boy, before balling her fist and giving him a swift punch on the arm. She wasn't afraid of him retaliating - for one, he was finding her distress incredibly amusing - but also because her martial arts training meant she could block almost any punch coming from any direction. "That's not funny!" She said, but the heat of the moment was finally passing, and the grin plastered over the boy's face was contagious. Her frown softened, and before she knew it she was mirroring the boy's smile. "All right, it was a bit. But you shouldn't do that! What if a Professor had found you?" Stella was beginning to laugh by this point, wondering if there was a way she could get payback for his prank. An eye for an eye, and all that, she thought. All of a sudden she remembered something. "Oh, sorry I punched you," She said, feeling a little guilty now. It hadn't been her intention to hurt him, just to show him what a horrible thing it was he'd done. "I'm Stella, by the way, Stella Lagowski," She added, for the first time actually hoping that a student might know who she was. Perhaps it would make him feel a little remorse to know who it was he'd just pranked, but that wasn't Stella's main reason for introducing herself. If she wanted to get him back, she would have to be crafty.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

As soon as the teen said the word and had successfully scared the girl watching her fall backwards on to her butt. He struggled to stop himself from laughing and just eventually let out a hearty laugh, the teen could clearly see that this girl was annoyed at him, but he in that moment didn't care, the laughter just took over him. The slytherin teen was smiling brightly and nodded at her question, clear disbelief over what he'd just managed to do. Avie watched with a joyous expression as she sat up slightly and then punched him on the arm clearly as hard as she could, and it was surprisingly sore. Avie visibly winced when her fist made contact with his skin. This person, this girl, looked to be a lot small than he was, and not to mention younger than him, he had expected because of her age that she would be pretty weak compared to him, but his arm actually was sore, Avie was now rubbing the spot where she'd hit him with a slightly surprised expression that was quickly covered by his joy at this entire situation, remembering how amazing his prank had been. His boredom was largely gone as he sat with this girl his mind still laughing at the fact that he'd managed to scare her. He was smiling brightly at her, trying to show her with his smile that everything was fine that aside from a little scare this was just all in good fun, he meant no harm by it. That was all this really was to him and he hoped that this girl, who ever she was wouldn't remain mad at him for too long, he didn't particularly like that. As he watched this girl in front of him, the boy realised that she seemed familiar to him. In a way that didn't happen to the teen, he was more likely to forget people than remember them. This girl seemed so familiar to him that he could swear down he'd seen her before. That was strange to him because he knew he hadn't seen her before here at Hogwarts.

As he was looking at her, he noticed that she was now smiling, his smile grew too at this sight, she was probably over being angry with him. He was just happy that she hadn't taken it too badly, the teen knew a small punch on the arm, while sore, wasn't the worst thing that could've happened. At her words he just shrugged at her, "I'd be in a lot more trouble if a professor had found me, worth it," he told her casually as if getting into trouble from a professor was essentially nothing, and really not something he should have to worry about. As if it was nothing more than a conversation, he didn't like being yelled at, but Avie wouldn't have minded considering he would've had fun. The teen was smiling, the image of her surprised face plastered in his mind, happiness in his heart the boredom mostly gone. He couldn't help but laugh at her apology over punching him, he flexed his arms pretending to be tougher than he was, "Look at me, you could never harm me, punch away!" he said with a friendly tone, just showing that he felt no anger or any ill feelings towards being punched, it was even a way he believed he was demonstrating how much she didn't need to apologise over the punch; even though the punch had hurt. The girl introduced herself, as Stella Lagowski, he frowned slightly over the name, it sounded familiar but he couldn't place where he knew it from, "Avie, Avie Mitchell," he said his voice seemed uncertain about what he was saying, but it wasn't about his name though that was the impression he was giving, "Do I know you?" he asked Stella. He felt like he did in some way but this was the first time they'd met he was sure. He couldn't think of why he would know who she was, "I feel like I've seen you before," he said slowly, his mind just trying to figure it out. It wasn't really working, he couldn't place this girl at all. Thoughts of pranks discarded from his mind until he figured out who she was.
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella bit her cheek, trying not to laugh, but it was impossible. Besides, she didn't want to hold it in. This was the first time she had found she was actually enjoying herself at Hogwarts, and quite frankly, she didn't want it to end. She would still rather have been at home, of course, but since that was impossible right now, this was the next best thing. Even so, she had vowed that she would find a way to get out of Hogwarts early somehow. She wasn't familiar with the rules yet, however she assumed that there were certain ways one could be kicked out. The trouble was, according to her Mother, Hogwarts wasn't the only Wizarding school in the world. In fact, there were several. So even if she managed to get herself kicked out of one, what would she even achieve? All that would happen was she'd go back to square one, living in an unfamiliar place with no friends. Stella decided that until she had a watertight plan, she was just going to have to suck it up. Given how desperately she wanted to go home, she was no longer upset in the slightest that the boy had pranked her. Anything that could take her mind off the swirling thoughts in her head was a miracle. She giggled, shaking her head in disbelief of just how much the Slytherin was enjoying this. Her heartbeat still hadn't returned to its normal rate, though it had slowed significantly now. Stella bit her lip in guilt as the boy rubbed his arm. She knew she could pack a good punch, but she hadn't realised she could actually hurt someone. She laughed when he flexed his arms, claiming that it hadn't hurt him. "D'you want one on the other arm to even it up, then?" She offered, balling her fist and holding it up to see if she could get him to flinch.

A glimmer of recognition spread across Avie's face. Stella wanted to punch the air, but she refrained from doing so. The chances of him recognising her had been slim, so she was delighted when he asked if he knew her. "Well," She said, dragging it out as long as possible. "I guess you might know me from 'Stellar Dusk'," She suggested, deciding that pointing out the film she was most widely known for gave her the best chance of shocking him. Not only that, but the film's audience was huge, ranging from not only adults but children too. "Or just from the TV in general," She added, wondering whether Avie had grown up around Muggles. She didn't see how else he could recognize her name, unless he'd simply heard rumours about her at Hogwarts. Stella did her best to hide her excitement as she plotted her revenge. "My Dad's a Hollywood film director. He said that if I make any really good friends at Hogwarts they can come to the private casting of his next film for a shot at the supporting role," She gabbled, wondering if Avie would fall for it. Stella was a good actress - she had to be - but it was a long shot. She hoped that the excitement of possibly appearing on TV with other actors and actresses of the muggle world would be enough for him to overlook the improbability of it all. "Oh.. I wasn't really supposed to say that. You won't tell anyone, will you?" She pleaded, trying to look as concerned as possible.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie smiled happily at the girl in front of him, his enjoyment written plainly on his face as he smiled. It was in his mannerisms, seeped into the way he held himself. The teen was happy and he knew that no matter what he would be happy with the distraction that this brought, no one would ever be able to tell him to not enjoy what he'd done. It was always running into other people that brought the teen such simple joy. It was easy to feel happy about things when it was just so simple. The smile barely left his face when he was happy, the teen wasn't often frowning, or gave any indication of being upset. At her words he smiled further turning slightly as if inviting her to punch him again, "Hit me, as hard as you can! Come on," he invited her to do so, not really caring for his own well being, what was one punch after all, he'd grown up with two older cousins, who were essentially older brothers, he'd had his fair share of punches. Plus Avie loved playing target practice, even if he was the target. The boy wasn't too bothered about being hurt or injured they were magic it was easily solvable, so he wasn't bothered if she did punch him again as hard as she could, it would probably hurt, yes but knowing what he'd done to her in his prank he wasn't surprised if she took him up on the offer. The teen was just happy, it didn't therefore bother him that he might get a little hurt. He was just happy to be messing around and being able to do something with his day considering the heavy rain outside and the limits to what the teen could do with his time because of the terrible weather and his lack of interest in academics. It was always the task of the day for Avie, he had to find out how to occupy his mind, how to find the most fun thing to do and then do it. It wasn't a particularly difficult task most days. The teen was easily distracted and very easily amused, perhaps that was to his credit in this large and often boring school. Even a little butterfly fluttering around would likely bring amusement to the boy, studying and revising however, that wasn't what school was for at all in his eyes.

The slytherin teen still couldn't place where he knew the girl, Stella, from, well, not until she mentioned a film and then it became clear that this was that person, she was an actress and he'd seen her film. He'd not really understood the plot of the movie, it had been too complicated for him but he'd enjoyed the moving images and such, so his non-understanding of the film's plot hadn't stopped him from enjoying the film itself. Meeting one of the actors from the film made him smile, since it was a muggle film and he was at Hogwarts he'd never imagined such a thing possible. It was strange, he could scarcely believe it! His frown shifted from that to one of amusement, his confusion and wondering gone since the issue had been solved, Stella continued talking, make really good friends with her, chance to be an actor, Avie just started laughing at this, unable to contain himself. He thought she was being honest with him, but it didn't stop him finding the scenario funny. He couldn't stay focused, he would never, "Find some other friends then," he told her, assuming this proposition made them sort of friends, "I've no interest in acting, I can barely read for one, I'd never know the lines. My aunt would have a fit if she found out too, Avie's not bright enough to be put on to the muggle screen she'd say," the boy said laughing, clearly finding what she'd said funny. His aunt would not be happy with him if he ended up in acting, he knew she say he wasn't bright enough for it, that being able to read and not be distracted were vital. As she then told him that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone, he just shrugged at her, "I can't make that kind of promise," he was still smiling, "Only if you do something to help me? It's nothing horrible, trust me," Avie wouldn't really tell anyone, well, he might tell Lucien, or perhaps also Marcel, but apart from that he wouldn't tell anyone, but if he could still get something out of this too, who was he to turn down that kind of opportunity.
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella was surprised by Avie's invitation to give him another punch. She was more than happy to oblige, since he'd scared her half to death just now and still needed to get payback. "Okay," She said, punching his other arm. This punch was a little more gentle than the last as not to hurt him, but it was still hard enough to make him feel it. She laughed, finding great amusement in the fact he had openly offered for her to have another go. He seemed all right, for a Slytherin. The stereotype that she held thanks to her Father's warnings was fading quickly. Until she had met Avie, Stella had been avoiding Slytherins like the plague for fear that they would all be out to hurt her. She assumed that there were still some bad people in Slytherin, but that they weren't all horrible like she'd been made to think. In fact, she'd met Hufflepuffs who had been more intimidating than this boy. She smiled to herself, glad she had decided not to say that part out loud. Stella wasn't the best at thinking before she spoke, but she wasn't a complete idiot. Stella wasn't sure whether or not Avie would have been offended by a comment like that, but it just wasn't worth the risk. It may have been slightly amusing, but she had just made a new friend, someone who treated her like an ordinary human being despite knowing who she was, and she wasn't losing that quite so soon.

Stella was more than a little disappointed to find that Avie didn't fall for her plan. Or perhaps he did, but he was completely uninterested in the opportunity to appear on the big screen with famous muggle actors. Stella clearly wasn't a huge prankster, and needed to up her game if she was going to fool him. "Well, that's not a very nice thing to say," Stella replied, wondering if he was kidding about his aunt. "Or maybe she just knows you really well," She added, in case it had been a joke after all. Stella raised an eyebrow, wondering what it could possibly be that Avie wanted her to do if he was to keep quiet. The only thing Stella had achieved by attempting to prank him was having to do him a favour. After all, what she'd said about her Father and an upcoming private casting wasn't even true, but now she had to go along with it. Even if she told Avie it had been a lie, he wouldn't have believed her, and if he did tell, Stella would be pestered to no end. "Fine, go on. It had better not be horrible," She warned, smiling with a mixture of amusement and nervousness.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

The boy tensed when Stella took Avie up on his invitation to punch him. He did it out of reflex knowing that she packed a good punch, although the punch she did launched at him that time was not as sore as the last time, he realised quickly that she putting less force in it, "You call that a punch?" he laughed lightly, just finding it funny that she was going slightly soft on him despite this being them just meeting. He knew that most others wouldn't and he had been sure that she would've tried to pack an even more heavy punch this time around, considering that this time she was able to focus solely on it. He just assumed that this girl was nicer than most other people he knew and so wouldn't have punched him as hard because of this nice-ness, that was how he reasoned the lighter punch. That was an odd thing to the boy who was just so used to being the target in target practice, people rarely held back. However, Avie just decided to ignore it, while he wouldn't mind her punching him hard as she could, he was happy to make a new friend and even happier to try to cure the boredom which had led him to even meeting this girl, Stella. It was just easier to talk to someone and be nice to them when he was in a good mood, and since his boredom had been scared away at the same time that he'd scared her all that remained was a good mood that he was currently in. It was after all easy for the teen to be in such a good mood.

As the girl mentioned that it wasn't a nice thing for his aunt to say he just smiled slightly and shrugged, Avie was both used to it and not bothered. He was just happy here at Hogwarts and thoughts of being famous or being in movies didn't appeal to him. He wouldn't be able to preform magic or probably be himself, and Avie prided himself on never really changing so that would've been a curveball in his plan. He grinned happily and just nodded, "She knows me pretty well I'd say, I wouldn't want to act though, so much pressure" which was his way of saying that the woman had practically raised him in a way, since he and his mother had lived with his aunt and uncle and their children. It had been dysfunctional to the rest of his family, but Avie had been rather happy with the arrangement having never known anything other than it. When the girl agreed to what he was asked he smiled excitedly, "Yes! Thank you," The boy reached into his pocket and moved slightly so that he was a little away and had enough space for what he was doing. Out of his pocket the teen pulled out a handful of small rocks placing them down in front of them and then spending a few moments laying them out in front of the pair of them, "I need to get rid of a couple of rocks, and I can't pick which to get rid of," he looked up at her, motioning to the rocks in front of him, hoping that she would help him out. It wasn't disgusting he didn't think so, all the rocks were dry and he'd cleaned most of the mud off the ones that had been muddy, "What do you think?" Avie loved his rock collection but he was always trying to keep it small, well, at a certain size, so it meant that occasionally he had to get rid of a few. The boy didn't really realise it was a strange thing to ask people, he was just really keen to fix his rock problem and who better to ask than someone who needed to tell him, or he had reason to not bother to keep her secret, and while Avie wasn't interested he was sure there were some who would be.
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

The young Hufflepuff laughed as Avie made fun of her weak punch. Whilst Stella was all for punching people who'd done her wrong, she'd figured out pretty quickly that the Slytherin boy was not actually a threat. Still, she wasn't keen on being thought of as soft, since that was far from the truth. With her hectic, stressful lifestyle growing up, and her physical training, Stella was certainly a tougher eleven year old than most, and she wouldn't tolerate anyone thinking they could get the better of her. Technically, using her martial arts for anything other than defensive was wrong and against the rules, but fortunately for her, nobody without training really knew that. "Hey, I came at you from the wrong angle, all right? Now, quit horsin' around or I'll show you what a real punch feel like," Stella said, at exactly the same moment a Professor decided to walk past. She quickly looked down at the ground, biting her cheek, but as soon as the Professor had disappeared around the corner she burst into tears of laughter. Despite her fear that Avie was going to think she was being soft, she decided to let it go. He was clearly enjoying himself, and Stella didn't want to be the one to ruin that. His amusement over the smallest things gave her the impression that he didn't often get to have fun like this, which seemed odd. Stella imagined that someone so full of energy and laughter would be having fun with his friends all the time, not that she thought there was anything wrong with keeping to yourself. After all, Stella had had a lot of trouble making friends. In fact, Avie was the first person at Hogwarts she'd really felt comfortable around, and she'd only known him five minutes.

Stella nodded when Avie mentioned the pressure of acting. "You have no idea. In my last film, I got up at 6am, makeup took two and a half hours, then we shot from 9am-9pm, only to do the whole thing again the next day. for six months! It's worth it though," She added quickly, and she meant it. Despite the stress, the hard work and the gossiping magazines, Stella wouldn't have changed it for anything. Stella smiled, ready for Avie to ask her a favour. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she certainly hadn't expected him to ask her to choose a rock to get rid of. She looked at them, bewildered, as he lay them out in front of her. Stifling a giggle, she said, "You.. You collect rocks?" Stella had heard of some bizarre hobbies, but this one topped them all. Doing her best not to laugh and offend him, she picked up a couple and inspected them. "Uuh, I think you should get rid of this one," She said, holding up a funnily shaped brown rock. "It looks like a turd," She explained, now unable to contain her amusement. Suddenly, she remembered what a trickster Avie was, and dropped the rock like it was red hot. "Oh my gosh, please tell me that's not a solidified turd," Stella said, horrified. She leant forward and wiped her hand on Avie's robes, just in case.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie barely held back his laughter at what she said, not even bothered by the professor walking by, he just continued laughing and gave the professor a small but excited wave. The punch had been less strong, less forceful, but the really the teen didn't mind, he just thought it would be funny to bring it up, and it had been. This girl was pretty funny to him, his laughter felt easy and the boredom was non existent, despite being a Slytherin, most of Avie's friends were in Hufflepuff, he almost had more hufflepuff friends than he had slytherin friends though this wasn't entirely a bad thing really. He was just very friendly and usually those to respond to his friendliness, the slytherin friends didn't always react in the same way but he still had plenty of friends in that house and the boy wasn't about to get on their case for not acting amazed and excited every time he did something. This girl, like with Kris and Marcel, even Emily just made him smile happily with great ease. He liked the fact that she'd waited until the professor had been gone to burst out laughing. It was silly in his mind to try to pretend to be calm and collected in front of the professors, what did it really change, they would always figure out what the person was like, Avie was all about just being himself. As Stella began talking about what it had been like filming, Avie scrunched up his face in disgust. He hated waking up for classes, and that wasn't at 6am, and he didn't have to work from 9am till 9pm. No way. This definitely in his mind showed that acting as a career path was out, even if it had never actually been on the table.

He shook his head at her, "I don't see how it could be, that sounds horrible and definitely not worth it," Avie told Stella with honesty clear in his voice, he didn't see how that might've been worth it. Not in the slightest, perhaps though that was more than Avie liked being able to play, he liked running around, he liked getting muddy and messy and essentially living by his own rules, "How did you go to school?" the teen's tone had shifted slightly, he was curious about if she was like him, clearly she was a better reader, she probably could read but did she struggle like he did because he hadn't been given the right time to really learn. Despite this line of questioning being of incredible importance to him, the more pressing issue of rocks was their first, or his priority. Which was why he'd taken this opportunity to lay the rocks out in front of them. At her question he just nodded at her, "Yeah, Lucien says it's stupid but considering we use the rocks for target practice, I know deep down he likes it," the teen replied simply, he knew that most people laughed at his collection, his family did, so he wouldn't have been surprised if this girl had too. He just was looking at them, more closely with her and looked up excited when she had selected one to get rid of. He frowned slightly as she continued speaking and then dropped the rock, he didn't think it was. Avie was almost certain it wasn't. He picked it up as the girl leaned forward and wiped her hands on his robes, "I don't think so," he told her before just shrugging and throwing it over his shoulder and letting it be thrown down the stairs and in Avie's mind essentially out his life, "Any others?" Avie pushed he needed to narrow down the collection, "Feel free to take some, rocks are good fun,"
​

This is pretty poor, I'm sorry.

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella smiled, greatly amused by Avie's aversion towards her career. It was certainly a tough path to take, but when the results of your hard work were plastered across screens all over the Muggle world, it was extremely rewarding. Stella enjoyed having the ability to portray a range a different characters, each with different intents, emotions and conflicts, but all of them relatable to the audience. She was pleased she hadn't become a typecast. Several actors she had befriended were always chosen for similar roles, since that was what they were most widely known for. Stella, on the other hand, had played a variety of different personalities, giving her plenty of opportunities to be cast in future films. That was, of course, until she'd been sent to Hogwarts. There was no way Stella could be in any films when the longest break she had each year was less than two months long. She sighed, momentarily distracted from the fun she was having with Avie. Whilst she'd been chatting to him, she had completely forgotten about the other things on her mind. Stella sincerely hoped this wasn't going to be her first and last encounter with him, since it had been the first time she'd properly laughed since school started. Realising she had gone quiet, Stella quickly pulled herself together and forced herself to smile.

Stella shrugged, picking up a few more rocks. "It's not for everyone. But then if it was, I wouldn't be famous for it," Stella raised her eyebrows and smiled. Avie's next question caught her off guard. She hadn't been expecting anything like that. She pretended to be concentrating on the rocks so that he wouldn't notice how awkward she felt about it. Her main focus growing up certainly hadn't been anything academical, and though she could read perfectly well she wasn't particularly good at spelling or math. "Well.. I was taken out of school and home educated right after I got cast in my first film. But.. I.." Stella paused, unsure of whether to explain or not. "I didn't know I was a witch until my eleventh birthday. I'm not muggle-born, my parents are both magical, but they didn't tell me anything about it," She explained, figuring that if there was anyone at Hogwarts she could trust, it was Avie. After all, he was completely unfazed by her Muggle fame, which was a huge relief to Stella. Holding up two more rocks, she turned them over in her hand. "Who's Lucien?" She asked, wondering if he was a friend or relative. "And what exactly are you practising for? Do you throw these at people or something?" Stella laughed, hoping that this wasn't the case. "I don't think you should keep these ones," Stella threw the rocks she was holding shoulder in the same fashion Avie had just done. Only when Stella did it, one of them flew straight towards a glass window pane, cracking it on impact. "F##k!" Stella exclaimed, and then clamped her hand over her mouth. A lot of the adults on set swore when they messed up their lines, and Stella had accidentally picked up the habit. She laughed awkwardly. "Sorry. D'you know how to fix that?" She asked, gesturing to the window. Fortunately the glass hadn't shattered, but there was now a cobweb shaped crack in the glass where the stone had hit.

Not at all! ^^

 

[Avie Mitchell]

The slytherin boy had no interest in acting that much he was making clear to her, though, Stella was however a different person from Avie and Avie could rationalise in his head that while it wasn't for her that she would enjoy it. He figured that by the fact that he had and gathered rocks. Rocks were his thing, and he knew that most others were not interested in rocks, that it wasn't something that all people enjoyed which wasn't important, as long as Avie enjoyed it and he was the one doing it, that was all that was important really, and Avie imagined that this was the same principle for Stella. He gave the girl a small smile when she replied, "As long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters!" he exclaimed excitedly, just showing that he didn't really care about what she did, more that he was interested in her happiness, despite this being their first meeting. As she began talking about school, Avie just nodded along, he didn't care about blood status really, Avie knew that he was at least half magic but having never known his biological father he had no real way of finding out what he was. Avie's schooling before this place had existed it just hadn't been very good, "I was homeschooled, by my aunt until I came here. I knew about the magic though" he told her with ease, not once minding about how what he was saying might been taken as bad, "She taught me and my cousins, they are older than me and her children so she spent most of her time with them, she would always just tell me I was too slow anyway, a waste of time" Avie repeated the words carefully clearly not entirely understanding the maliciousness of the words but repeating what had been said to him.

"I don't know my blood status is, my ma's a witch, but, I never knew my dad, he's not dead or anything, just not there, so I don't know what I am. Just half of a wizard and half unknown," The boy told her excitedly, once again clearly not phased by the words he was saying in relations to his non-existent father. He'd never been inclined to meet or even find his biological father, in Avie's mind it didn't matter whether he was around or not, he didn't need the man. Which explained why he could talk about it with such ease, no issues to him about where he'd come from. All that mattered to him was the here and now, he had his mother that was all that really mattered, she was with him. At the next question he just smiled happily, "Lucien's a friend, he's a slytherin too, he's a little pricklier than me," Avie told her before she continued speaking and then threw the rocks away. He burst out laughing when one of the rocks hit the window and cracked it. He knew that she was freaking out about it, the fact she swore and then asked if he would do anything. It was just all very funny to him. He wasn't even laughing at her, more the actions and what it had led to. He liked Stella, she was good fun. Avie got to his feet and walked over, leaving the rocks where they were, he took out his wand and pointed it at the window. It took him a few moments but finally he remembered the spell. He said it out loud a few times, making sure that he could say it before then, "Reparo," the teen unlike with reading and pretty much all other school related things, was pretty good with spells. As long as he could say them, everything was fine for him. So, it was no surprise to him when the window actually repaired itself. He smiled happily at the girl before pocketing the wand and sitting back down in front of the rocks, "Next time avoid the window," he said in a light and friendly tone, "I just need to get rid of three more at most, then we'll be square,"
​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella smiled as the Slytherin came to the conclusion that as long as she was happy, it didn't matter which career Stella pursued. She felt the same way, really. As long as what you decided to do was legal and morally right, Stella saw no harm in it. Her discovery of Avie's rock collection had been surprising at first, but once she had realised he was doing no one harm, she had quickly come round to the idea. "Thank you," She said sincerely, since very few people seemed to allow her to pursue her dreams without judging her in some way for it. Stella could hardly believe her ears when Avie repeated his Aunt's words. She wasn't sure what was more shocking - the fact she had said it to him in the first place, or the fact he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it. Stella's Mother was a little stern sometimes, and her Dad was often too busy with work to spend time with her, but they would never in a million years have said anything like that to her. Even Stella, who was not the best at thinking before she spoke, wouldn't have said such a thing, even if she believed it to be true. She didn't, though. Avie seemed like a pretty intelligent boy to her, so his Aunt clearly had issues of her own. She looked down, turning slightly pink as she wondered what to say. Avie seemed completely unfazed by his Aunt's words and his Father's absence, so apologising seemed a little out of place, but she couldn't bring herself to say nothing. "Your Aunt sounds a few pork pies short of a picnic. You're anything but slow. And I definitely wouldn't say you're a waste of time. You're the first person who's made me laugh since I got here," Stella admitted, hoping that her words would have a positive effect on Avie rather than embarrassing him.

The Hufflepuff shrugged, showing how little understood about blood purity. "My dad says he and mom are both half bloods. I don't know what that makes me," Stella said, not really caring either way. It was of little concern to her, especially since she didn't even want to be a witch anyway. Stella watched as Avie wandered over to the window, and with a quick word and flick of his wand fixed the window. She tried not to appear too amazed by it, not only since it was likely a simple spell, but also because she didn't want to admit any interest in magic. The more she found it intriguing or incredible, the less likely she was to want to go home, and she couldn't let that happen. Still, she couldn't use this reason to justify not showing her appreciation for his help. "Wow, that's pretty awesome," Stella said, her eyes following him as he sat back down. "I was right about your Aunt. If she thinks you're slow, she should see how badly I failed in my charms lesson this week," Stella's eyes glazed over slightly as she remembered it. She had been one of the only students who had failed to cast Lumos Solem, and it was one of the most basic spells a Witch or Wizard could perform. Realising she was starting to look sad, Stella looked up smiled. "I don't care though. I'm not staying anyway." Stella wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but she said it with conviction. Picking up three more rocks and examining them, she felt a sadness growing inside her. She threw two of them towards the staircase, being careful to avoid the window this time, with little regard to whether or not Avie might have wanted to keep those ones. She held the third in her palm, admiring its smooth, oval shape. "Can I keep this one? It's pretty," She said, though she would never have admitted that the real reason she wanted to keep it was as a reminder of Avie, just in case they didn't get to spend time with each other again.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie shrugged with a happy grin at her thanks, he thought it was the most natural thing, if you didn't like something why bother continuing with it. Avie didn't continue with thing if he didn't enjoy them, though in most cases Avie wasn't really allowed to even begin them. It was why he generally managed to have all of his hobbies be things his aunt, uncle and mother wouldn't have to pay for. That and he had always lost motivation in them after his aunt had in her usual fashion shut him down, with the stern words of it would be a waste. It was a tone of voice that the boy recognised with ease, and it always meant no. He hadn't heard it much as of late, it had been absent replaced with a tone he didn't know at all, a sort of voice that he would venture was nice. But, of course Avie didn't give it much thought, like he gave very little thought to most other things which were uttered to him. If he had no interest in them, then why would he want to bother with them. It just didn't make that much sense to him, and it was why despite how most people might react, his reaction was really far from what would be considered the norm of things. He looked at the girl when she said she said a strange line, who wouldn't bring pork pies to a picnic? Did pork pies mean a picnic was complete? He frowned a little bit at what she said, before focusing on the rest of it, only catching the end, when she said that he was the only person who made her laugh since arriving at Hogwarts, "Are pork pies an important part of a picnic?" the teen asked her, hoping to figure that out before anything else, and rather than saying anything about the rest of it he just looked at her hufflepuff uniform and shook his head, "You'll find people to laugh with, find Emily, Kris and Marcel, they are all in your house, they are all really funny. Hufflepuff's aren't grumpy like Slytherins!" He told her, trying to think of any other Hufflepuffs that he knew that might be fun for her to be around, ones that he would excited tell to watch out for because they were just as fun as he was.

At her words he shrugged as well, he didn't really know much about his blood, or really the blood thing. He didn't know what he was and it probably wouldn't ever matter. He was just happy to be able to do magic, without even Avie realised that he wouldn't have had much in the way of a future. The only thing he might've had was sports. Which he also had here, considering the fact he played quidditch. As he cast the spell and it worked perfect the teen just smiled with glee. He liked knowing that what he was doing was good. What she said following that was confusing to him to say the least, he might be able to do spells but that didn't make him smart, it didn't make him any less slow really, "Practical and theory is different" Avie just about stumbled over every word in the sentence he'd just said, but continued regardless, "I can't read, so I can't do theory, but I can cast spells," he explained with a little smile, clear once again not bothered by the fact he didn't read very well, he was just telling her that his aunt was right, and that he was unbothered by this fact. He liked his talents though they were perhaps few. At her next words he frowned again, before just smiling, "This place isn't as fancy as Hollywood right?" he chuckled lightly, "Are you looking to get expelled or just cause enough trouble to get listened to?" he asked with a small smile wondering if he could be of any use to her. After all they were friends, and friends were supposed to help each other. He would help her, if she wanted him to, it would be of no issue to him if she asked that. As he watched her finally help him narrow down his options and as he was moving the rest of them back into a small circle using his hands to shape it, he glanced up at her words, "Of course! I have plenty," he told her, having no issue with it in the slightest, if she had wanted all of the rocks in her hand, he might just have given them to her. Avie pulled his hands away from the rocks, and laughed as a few of them fell away from the pack. Remembering that this was part of a deal the boy looked up and grinned, "I'll keep your secret then," Avie held up his hand in a scout's honour position he'd seen being done in the movies before just beginning to laugh, "You wanna play rocks?"
​