#3 Breakfast

Kier noticed Mathias appear and raised his head to look at the boy with a smirk as he sat down at their table. He wasn't surprised to hear the stick hadn't revealed anything yet, but he did feel a tad disappointed about it. Under his sleeves his forearms and hands were still pretty bruised from the experience, but the aloe had helped a lot, and even with his sore reminder, he knew he honestly couldn't say he wouldn't try it again in a heartbeat.

"If you break it I'm sure we could get another. After all, we know more about how it thinks now." There was a definite mischievous gleam to his eyes as he spoke, propping his elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his palm to study the Raven boy. His gaze shifted to the newspaper for a brief moment but he really didn't have much interest in it. He knew someone was messing with muggles, but unlike Cafell who was probably having a field day, Kier couldn't care less.

"No solid plans yet, still working on it." Kier smiled and gave a nod of acknowledgment to Adeline as he recognized her from the night before. He wasn't sure how the two knew each other but he didn't really care enough to ask either. Knowing this place it could be anything, but judging by Mathias' ruffling her hair earlier, he figured it was pretty safe to assume they were siblings.

As Sophia popped out of nowhere and joined them Kier shifted his gaze to her and grinned.
"I plan to avoid the common room like the plague until its gone, though I know the others will need their blankets eventually." He had already untied his blanket from the corner where he had strategically placed it, but most of the other boys had a lot of work to do if they wanted to get to their blankets anytime soon.

Kier was about to say more when he heard a small commotion at the Gryffindor table and glanced over. For a few seconds, an oddly serious expression flashed across his face, but it was gone about as quick as it had appeared. Behind his smile, however, he was strangely annoyed by Jacob's little outburst. Perhaps because a part of Kier respected the other boy and he expected a fellow prankster to be a tad smarter, or at least a little more suspicious.

"They may be brave, but damn they turn on friends easily." Kier chuckled and shook his head, once again happy he hadn't chosen to join Gryffindor. He could probably deal with a friend hating him, hell he wouldn't even care if a friend stabbed him, so long as his friend never doubted him. That was where he drew the line.

He nodded to Mathias as the boy headed off before picking up a piece of toast and nibbling it with a mischievous look again, his gaze shifting to Sophia as he raised an eyebrow.
"You think if I started a rumor that Lockyer has a crush on Mardling, Thatcher would believe that too?"

Eleanor pursed her lips together tightly, doing everything possible to maintain her composure as Jacob berated her. She didn't deserve any of this, she hadn't done what she was being accused of, and he wasn't even giving her a chance to defend herself before heading as far away from her at the table as possible. She had noticed the hurt look mixed in with all of the anger, and she was torn on what to do next. She hated that he had been hurt by this awful rumor, but he hadn't even asked her if it were true, hadn't even offered her the opportunity to explain herself.

Anger began to rise to the surface; anger at whoever started this rumor, anger at her house for clearly believing it, anger at Jacob for ending their friendship over something that wasn't even true without even having a rational conversation with her. Anger was much easier to deal with than sadness, and she latched onto that like a life preserver.


Eleanor looked at Marrow, giving him a slight smile at his comforting words, and said quietly, "Thank you for your support. But I've got to clear my name."

She stood, slamming her hands onto the table to get the attention of her housemates, and likely others as she wasn't exactly being quiet. Ignoring the fact that creating a scene might possibly land her in official trouble with professors, which would only fuel the Gryffindor rage against her if she lost any of the precious few points they had, she had to do something to clear her name. Obviously, rational conversation wasn't going to be the way to do so.


"Why would I turn in Jacob and Thomas for anything? It doesn't even make sense! Why don't, instead of listening to the rumour mill dominating this school, you try talking to me and asking me if I had done it? I can guarantee you that I wouldn't have lied about it if I had! But instead, you listen to gossip and spread it further without caring at all about the actual person it's about. How long have you guys known me? When have I ever stabbed any of you in the back?"

She marched to Jacob, tears spilling over as she continued, "And you! You're absolutely right, we aren't friends. Friends don't turn on each other because of a stupid rumor. A real friend would have had the decency to at least ASK me what was going on instead of blindly believing anything you heard in the hallways. Did it even occur to you that if this had any truth to it at all, it would have come out last year when Thomas nearly missed playing in the game? Isn't it a little strange it happened the day after the stupid Slytherins were doused in glitter? Did it never occur to you that maybe they started that in an act of retaliation because they're too stupid to figure out who was behind the prank? No, of course, not! You just automatically believed the worst in me and never once gave me the benefit of the doubt! I can't believe I ever even liked you!"


She turned away, covering her face as she began to cry in earnest, completely embarrassed that she had lost her temper and that she was making a scene, completely heartbroken that people automatically assumed she was a traitor without having any proof, and completely miserable that this was happening to her when she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Ignoring everyone at the table, she turned and bolted out the door, not wanting to be around anyone any longer.

"If I'm being honest," Nathan told Lucas with a slight shrug, "I was just planning to wander around until I stumbled upon something interesting enough to warrant my attention."

And indeed, it was the truth. With no real plans in mind, he had planned to look for whatever interesting was happening around the castle this morning. He had hoped that the Gryffindor spat would have provided more entertainment, but seeing as how breakfast was over and the girl had stormed off, those hopes were dashed.

Nathan watched for a brief moment as Becca made plans with a Ravenclaw boy, then turned his attention back to Lucas, "Sometimes you find out the most interesting information by just being in the right place at the right time. Think of all of the opportunities missed when you're not present for that opportune moment."

Noticing Amara had not shown up at breakfast at all, Nathan wondered aloud, "I wonder where Seabrook is? Interesting things always seem to happen wherever she turns up."

"That's fine, we'll meet you there." Becca said with a smile, trusting that he'd be there if he said he would, not that she would hold it against him if he got caught up with something else. Sometimes that's just how things worked out. She turned to Lailee, nodding towards the door, "Shall we go ahead to the Savannah then? See, I told you he wouldn't mind, you were worried over nothing."

Lucas eyed Nathan thoughtfully as the boy spoke. Sure, they shared a dorm and were on friendly enough terms but perhaps there was a missed opportunity not to get to know the other boy more? He found himself agreeing with everything Nathan said, and it intrigued him immensely.

'Well, I have a few rounds to make. Probably.' Lucas shrugged, trying to sound busier than he was and not at all desperate for the company. 'I suppose we could hang out, if you've got the time? I've been meaning to see what all the fuss is about with that haunted girls bathroom. I could use the backup?' Of course, it wasn't as if Lucas had any intention to investigate all on his own so he hoped Nathan was braver than him.

He stood and waited, since breakfast was over. If Nathan had other ideas though, he was open to considering them. Lucas wasn't about to head off to that bathroom without confirmation he wasn't going there alone. Maybe a girl would be a better choice, since it was a girls bathroom, but he'd sneaked around those enough times (for strictly gossip-hearing reasons, nothing else) to not be bothered by it.

Unable to resist a bit of humour, as it was a rather silly request, Lucas gave Nathan a bright grin and contained his laughter. 'Want to come search girls toilets for ghosts with me?'