Ungrateful Company

[Sophie Wilson]

As much as Sophie liked some of her classes and some of the kids here at Hogwarts, adjusting to the noise and crowds was always annoying. Today she just wanted a quiet place to sketch, as her art had been neglected a little over the holidays. The skiing trip had been surprisingly fun, and she was grateful to have been invited by Caro. The image of her sister yelling and skiing into other people wasn't one that would soon leave her mind, and she was wondering if she could manage to draw it on paper to hang on her dormitory wall. It wasn't like Amber would ever see it there, but it probably wouldn't stop her even if she could.

She found a largely empty corridor and made herself comfortable on a windowsill, the window overlooking the Great Lawn below. She spent some time watching the tiny people walk around below before taking her sketchbook out of her bag. Drawing people skiing was surprisingly difficult so she quickly gave up on it. Doodling a skull instead as she thought idly of what else to draw today.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena had been hoping she wouldn't be sorted in the same house as her cousins, because she wanted to establish her own reputation and besides, she didn't know them well. At least she had her brother in Slytherin, and she was happy about that. She knew the youngest of her cousins was in this house however, and Athena needed to find ways in which to make a name for herself before people found out they were related. There was only a one year difference between her and Sara which meant that people were bound to find out soon. Thankfully they didn't share the surname.

Normally, Athena would be taking a walk outside, because she found it a nice place rather than inside the castle. But today was different, she knew, as she explored the fifth floor. Something in particular caught her eye. On closer examination, she realised it was a girl, either the same age or slightly older, and she was holding a pencil and a drawing book. Her eyes were fixed on the page. Athena was too curious to let this pass by, which was the reason she was already walking toward the girl. "Hi," she finally spoke up, after having looked at the girl's drawing for a few minutes. "Wow, you're really good," Athena frowned, a faint smile on her lips. She was better than Athena, not that she'd ever admit that, and the blonde spent her free time drawing whatever she had in mind. "Sorry if I interrupted you." Though she wasn't sorry, not really. Athena just needed an excuse to see what the girl had been doing.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie was just starting to feel bored with the skull she was drawing and considering turning the page over to draw something else when she realized she was being stared at by a stranger. She looked up at her angrily when she greeted her and complimented her drawing. Sophie didn't like it when people just stared at what she was doing without asking and commented on things she liked to do on her own, especially if they were strangers. The girl looked unfamiliar, maybe a first year? She didn't care. "Funny." She deadpanned as she turned the page to a blank one. "I don't remember asking for your opinion, should I worry about my memory?" She paused. "Oh wait, no. Because I didn't." It didn't matter that what the girl had said was nice, Sophie tended to assume people were either mocking her or just being nice because they felt like they had to be instead of being genuine. Befriending some girls in her year had helped her feel a little less suspicious of others, but there was something about this girl that felt off, fake, or maybe she just wanted that to be the case so she wouldn't have to feel bad about chasing her off or making her cry. "If you want to play art critic so bad, go talk to a painting. They talk back." She made a dismissive hand gesture as if to wave the girl to run along now.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena's attempt at being nice to a stranger was short lived. The other girl wasn't being nice herself, so the Slytherin dropped the act altogether. She didn't want to be friendly to someone who wasn't friendly to Athena, she didn't even know the girl. "Excuse me?" She raised her eyebrows, any trace of a smile long gone. Did this girl think she was better than the first year? No. she didn't think so. "What's your problem? All I said was a compliment to your drawing skills, but clearly, you can't take one." She rolled her eyes, getting annoyed. Why did older people have to act like they were smarter than her, or something? It bothered her. A lot. The blonde wasn't used to being talked back to, she always had the upper hand, so she couldn't help but to stare at the girl in shock as she told her to go talk to a painting. She wasn't stupid, she knew paintings talked here. She had, in fact, talked to one of them already. "I already have, thanks," she snapped. "And actually, they are much better than yours," and without thinking she bent down and snatched the book away from the brunette, flipping through the pages. Those paintings in the castle weren't really much nicer, but Athena didn't want the other girl to have the satisfaction of knowing that the Slytherin thought her drawings were awesome. In her eyes, she didn't deserve any more praise.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

It was amusing how quickly the smile fell away from the younger girl's face. And even though Sophie could admit to herself that she had been ruder than necessary, she couldn't really say she regretted it. Sophie snorted. "I didn't ask for a compliment, or your shrill voice in my ears." She remarked dryly. She let out a small laugh when she said she already talked to a painting. "Well, I guess it's harder for them to walk away from someone annoying when they want to." She said with a shrug and a wave of her hand. Her amusement faded immediately when the girl snatched her sketchbook away, though, and she frowned. "Hey!" There were personal drawings in there! Well, sort of. She had mostly drawn birds, trees, skulls and the moon a few times. She'd tried to draw her friend Caro once, as well as Geo with rainbow hair, and she had made a too detailed drawing of a dragon breathing fire on her enemy Gabriel Rosenberg when she had been angry at him last year. It was a little embarrassing because it was easy to see she had spent some effort on it, trying to make it actually look like him, but at the same time this girl could hardly judge her. "Give it back." She snapped, trying to reach for it.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

The nerve of this girl. Athena couldn't resist not mocking her. That had barely been an insult in her eyes. "My shrill voice?" She repeated. "You should hear yourself," she scoffed. She was getting more irritable by the second. Athena hadn't even been at the school that long and already she was making enemies. Although so far she had not met many people, she just hoped most of them were like Jasmine and not this older girl. "It's not really my problem, if someone doesn't like me I don't care," she rolled her eyes and resumed to page through the sketchbook, only doing it to aggravate the brunette. She did care whether others considered her a nice person - but she would never admit it, not even to herself. Of course Athena wasn't really looking at them though she was pretending to. After a while she spotted a drawing and she burst out laughing. "I'm having way too much fun with this." She grinned at the drawing. "Who's this, your boyfriend? He annoyed you, or what?" She pointed to the one of a boy around the girl's age with blonde hair. She'd never seen him before, maybe she should meet him some day. It would sure make this girl go insane, because as shown on the page she didn't like him very much. Athena shook her head. "No," she said simply at her giving the girl her drawing book back. "Not until you apologise." Athena would give it back eventually, if she did apologise for being rude to her first.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie rolled her eyes at the girl as she got to her feet. "Yes, your shrill voice. Are you part banshee or something? You look it too." She was annoyed that this girl was bothering her and had more backbone than she had calculated. Usually when she snapped at someone they went away, at least, she had assumed that would happen with the first-years. Maybe Sophie wasn't as intimidating as she wanted to be, she couldn't really blame her as she was very short and not very scary. But her acid words usually made people at least reconsider her. "Sure you don't care, that's why you're still here." She mocked, though she made another grab for the sketchbook. Didn't she know an artist's sketchbook was personal? Stealing it like that was mean. Of course, Sophie herself had been mean so maybe it wasn't entirely unfair. Still, she didn't want some stranger at her drawings. When she came across he drawing of Gabriel, Sophie's cheeks heated up. It was just irritating, as she was now reminded of her biggest enemy as well as being annoyed by this girl. The idea of Gabriel as her boyfriend was as infuriating as it was ridiculous. "Of course not, do I seem brain-dead to you? He's horrible! So is anyone that would date him." She grabbed at her sketchbook again, glaring fiercely. "I'm not going to apologize to a brat like you." She spat, making another grab. "Just give it BACK, or I'm cursing you."

 

[Geovanna Adler-Cade]

The last year had flown by, and if it were anything to go by, she'd have to step up her game with her lessons if she wanted to graduate into Auror training. She'd known ever since she could remember, that all she wanted to do as an adult was use her abilities and skills to defend those she cared about, and the number of people making it onto that list was ever growing.

Geo and Elly had become slightly more distant over the holidays, but the Hufflepuff was keen to change that as soon as possible. On her way up to the towers, she spotted another familiar Ravenclaw, who unlike herself seemed to be having a hard time with a first year. Geo sighed to herself, relaxing a little as walked. She'd been on this end of the girl once. Sophie was nothing like her sister, and seemed to assume everyone was out to get her. "I'm not going to apologize to a brat like you" she heard, and took Geo by surprise with the amount of venom in her tone. Perhaps this first year really had done something wrong, but there was no need for curses. "Is this how we make friends now?" Geo called out as she walked close enough to the overflowing chaos. "What's going on?" She asked, glancing to a book the first year held, not realising that it was Sophie's work.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena was quickly tiring of their argument. It was no fun when the girl was being witty. And annoying. Although the latter was expected, if both girls didn't like each other. The part about her looking like a banshee kind of stung but there was no way the first year was letting the other girl see that. Athena put so much effort in looking good and like a nice person to others, so she definitely did not need to have her self-esteem lowered. "Like you're any better," she rolled her eyes, scoffing. She'd been doing that often today. She didn't bother to comment on the brunette's next words about her not caring. Of course, what she said was true. But Athena was afraid that if she said anything more she'd give it away. "Fine, you want your book? You can have your stupid drawings," she snapped, handing it over to get on with her life; although she had second thoughts about it and drew her arm back quickly.

It didn't help when another girl arrived and seemed to be on the Ravenclaw's side. It was a shame, she really looked like a nice person, Athena didn't understand who would ever want to hang out with her. "Of course it isn't, don't you have any friends?" She was so annoyed that Athena didn't care whether she made a good impression on the hufflepuff or not. Any friend of this brat was not a friend of hers. "She won't apologise. I was being nice," Athena said, sticking her chin up with no shame. Then, impulsively, she extended her arm and threw the sketch book as far away in the corridor and opposite direction as possible. She folded her arms, smirking. "Now you can have it." Hopefully the Slytherin was avoiding any chance of being cursed.

 

[Antonio Rey-Martinez]

It felt like Antonio hadn't seen much of his sister since the beginning of the semester, which seemed strange as they were in the same house, but the Slytherin had taken to exploring the castle as much as he could between lessons and never seemed to run into Athena. He hoped it would be different as he headed to the fifth floor. The corridors were mostly empty though that didn't remain the case as he rounded the corner and saw two girls in what seemed like an argument. As he got closer Antonio noticed the blonde girl was his sister Athena, Antonio decided to hang back a little to see how she would handle herself with the other girl who seemed very rude. It dawned on him that he had not long been in a similar situation where he had formally met Jasmine while shew as arguing with a Hufflepuff boy. "Making friend sis?" Antonio asked making his way towards the two girls. Soon another girl arrived and she seemed to want to know what was going on too, he wondered if she was friends with the other girl. "Are you okay Athena?"

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Geo was one of the people Sophie considered a friend, but at this time she wished her friend hadn't shown up. Her comment sounded condescending to Sophie's ears and she scowled in the direction of the Hufflepuff. "I'd rather die than be friends with someone like this." She said, pointing at the girl. "She stole my sketchbook."

The girl seemed to hand it back and Sophie wanted nothing more than to snatch it out of her hand but she pulled it back again before she could. Sophie was about ready to fly at her in a rage, but the new audience of Geo stopped her. At least the blonde Slytherin was being horrible to her too, so Sophie probably looked less unreasonably mean. Her wand was drawn in an instant when the girl threw her sketchbook into the corridor and she leveled it at the girl with a glare. She stared at her for a long moment before she finally moved her wand to point at the sketchbook instead. "Accio sketchbook." She said, satisfied as it flew back into her hand without having to try again. She snorted. "I'm a second-year, I know a lot more spells and curses at you. So scram before I use them on you."

Then a boy approached who appeared to be her brother. Sophie scowled at him. "She's fine, but not for much longer." She snapped at him. "You better get your demon of a sister out of my face if you want her to stay that way." The wand was in her hand and she wanted nothing more than to send a hex at the smug Slytherin girl, but she managed to keep herself from doing it. Just barely.

 

[Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Geo watched on as Sophie and the first year tried to explain the situation, and from the corner of her eye she saw another boy joining them too. Geos hand was already resting on the handle of her wand from her pocket by the time Sophie retrieved her notebook, and she wouldn't be allowing anyone to disrespect her friends belongings. Not today and not while she were around. She crept forward slowly to the blonde as she spoke 'I'd think very carefully about your next move' Her voice quiet but firm as her eyes bore down into hers. Her blood was boiling under her calm exterior after witnessing her behaviour. Some students just assumed they were better than others, and the Hufflepuff would willingly show her her mistake.

Never forgetting another student had arrived, she glanced up as he spoke. Sophie however was seemingly doing well enough to establish the situation, so Geo held back as her friend threatened the other, watching just in case he tried something stupid. Growing up in a house full of children had had its benefits throughout Geos childhood, and the second year wouldn't hesitate if she needed to get involved.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena raised her eyebrow at the older Ravenclaw's words, believing she was exaggerating. She would rather die that befriend the Slytherin? Now that was a little offensive. She decided not to comment however, there was no point in wasting her energy on something as pathetic as that comment. "Please, we both know your sketchbook is hardly anything to be proud of," she rolled her eyes, unable to help it. What she let out had slipped and there was no way she was apologising now, the girls were too far into the arguing to muster any sort of apologies to each other. She heard her brother approaching the group and asked her if she was making friends, obviously a sarcastic comment from his part, followed by another question asking if she was okay. "I'm fine," she said, a little annoyed but thankful that her twin was here and by her side.

The first year didn't expect what came next, the Hufflepuff's face right into hers. She had half a mind to push the girl away from her - didn't these people understand anything about personal space? - but then soon remembered that they were older and probably knew a hundred more spells than Athena did. So it wouldn't be wise. "Oh really? What exactly can you do to me that won't get you suspended? Or better yet, expelled?" she shot back, seriously aggravated. Some people knew how to get on her nerves. "So what, I'm not allowed to say what I think? If I don't like you, I don't, so deal with it. And I thought it was a free country," she said sarcastically, instinctively pushing the hufflepuff away so that Athena would get some space. She'd forgotten about the constant threat, that the girls could do her more harm than she could actually guess. "Don't forget, there is a witness here," she pointed out, referring to her brother, "so do what you want, but you won't get away with any of it." The blonde felt satisfied with what she had come up with, but she didn't necessarily mean what she said. "You guys are honesty the most pathetic people I've ever met," she huffed. Athena was done with them, she didn't even want to see their faces anymore, so without another word she turned her back towards them and started to leave, hoping Antonio wouldn't try to make amends.