Monday, February 28, 2011
Ada Barrett
Knapp stood at the podium with her arms spread wide. "Greetings, people of Lyreade! My apologies for the unexpected announcement, but we have a new student joining us now. Her name is Ada Barrett, and she is in Eagletalon, year five."Please welcome her!" Knapp smiled as her students and teachers applauded. "Have a delicious and magnificent dinner!" Then, she stepped down and sat at her table.
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Haruyuki and Leon both clapped their hands for the new student happily. Shiina nodded curtly.
ReplyDeleteBehind Knapp, Yamamoto and Smith both nodded their approval for the new student.
Farwill smiled at Ada from where she sat, and continued on eating her meal. Damien beamed and clapped loudly for the new student in his house. Akinara smiled at Ada tentatively and gave her a little clap. Bryn raised an eyebrow at the new student and exchanged a glance with Shiina, then ignored her and went back to eating. Gwen gave Ada a calculating look. Finally another student in her year. She wasn't sure whether she should be happy about it or not.
ReplyDeleteAda smiled to herself and lifted her pumpkin juice to her lips. Sipping at it, she watched the others in the room. Several of them were scrutinizing her, others smiled, and still others ignored her completely. Her smile wanted to grow into a grin, but she stifled it, glancing over at the girl she guessed was Gwen.
ReplyDeleteGwen tensed, feeling a gaze on her. She turned her head to see Ada staring at her, and narrowed her eyes. "What're YOU looking at, newbie?" She snapped, her hand clenching her knife a little more tightly.
ReplyDelete"Nothing," Ada replied with a smug sort of grin, amused that she had been able to so easily rile the girl up. "Absolutely nothing. What are you going to do, throw that at me?" She gestured to the knife that Gwen was gripping so tightly and gave the girl a sugar-sweet smile. "I'll bet you a galleon that you miss."
ReplyDeleteShiina looked over at the two girls. "Don't you dare misjudge a Dracoslyther," she said in a slightly deep voice, her red eyes narrowing.
ReplyDeleteGwen raised an eyebrow. "When did I ever want to throw that at you? I don't wanna waste a perfectly good butter knife at your unworthy face," she told Ada, her eyes narrowing. She gave Shiina a grateful glance then turned to ignore Ada. Just then, Damien from the Eagletalon table glanced over. "Ada, are you bothering the Dracoslythers? You don't want snakes and lizards in your bed, do you?"
ReplyDeleteShiina glared at Damien fiercely before turning back to the table.
ReplyDeleteDamien rolled his eyes at her back then glanced at Ada. "You should know better than to bother the Dracoslythers."
ReplyDeleteManaging to look completely innocent as she did so, Ada leaned in close to whisper, "Oh, bollocks to that. Slytherins were just as unpleasant and twice as ready to act on their feelings. I'm not scared of them. I've dealt with plenty worse. Trust me," she assured Damien. Then, speaking aloud, she said in a purposely ditsy, airheaded voice, "Oh, dear. It seems I've started something on my very first day. How so very dumb of me! I apologize profusely."
ReplyDeleteShe knew Gwen would realize the act, and so waggled her eyebrows a little at her, but she hoped the others would just forget the whole scene. Somehow she was getting noticed a lot more than she had wanted. It was foreign to her. And she didn't like things being foreign.
Gwen rolled her eyes at her. "Shut up, ratface," she shot back, then continued to eat her liver and kidney pie.
ReplyDeleteAda just grinned and took a bite of chicken. "We'll see about ratface when I finish with her," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, but loudly enough that Damien probably heard. And that was fine. Maybe he'd help, if he had the guts for it.
ReplyDeleteGwen glared at her pie. "Heard that," she hissed at Ada, and Damien frowned at the fifth year Eagletalon. "Ada. When dinner is over, you and I will have a talk in the common room."
ReplyDeleteAda matched Damien's frown and took another bite of chicken. "Oh, dear. Three schools I get ignored, and now everyone's about ready to strangle me the moment I arrive. All because I stood up to a Dracoslyther. Oy vey, this is certainly a very different place I got myself transferred to. That's just great. Wonderful. Peachy." Then she glanced up at Damien and asked quietly, "Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you mean, a talk? Are you going to yell at me?" She gave Damien a small, hesitant smile, realizing that she must've seemed like a witch with a capital B during her little "conversation" with Gwen. Suddenly, she was realizing a whole bunch of things. It wasn't her style to go around riling people up. Definitely not her style to grin smugly at people. She felt awful about it now, but she wasn't going to give Gwen the satisfaction of an apology.
ReplyDeleteDamien glared at Ada. "When I meant a talk, I meant berating you without embarrassing you in front of the entire school, so you should thank me." He pointed his fork at her shepherd's pie and ordered, "Eat. You should be finished when I am, then you will come with me to the Common Room." He turned back to his pudding and ate at it angrily.
ReplyDeleteAda flinched at the angry tone and took a bite of pie. "That was an honest question. And I'd really rather you yelled. It's easier to handle. I'm used to it," she told him, staring listlessly at her pie. "I didn't mean to make you angry."
ReplyDeleteThen she filled her mouth with a bite of pie, even though her appetite was gone.
Damien didn't answer for a second, then he snapped, "You'll make me angrier if you don't stop making others annoyed at not only you, but themselves. Gwen has gone through a lot, more than you will. Can't you go easy on her?"
ReplyDelete"How the hell do you know what I've gone through? Don't you dare try to think that you know what I've gone through, Damien Kumataka!" With that Ada flung her fork down on the table and stalked off, not caring that half the school was staring at her like she'd just grown two heads. Angry tears streaked down her cheeks, and she couldn't stop them coming. She didn't know where she was going-- she was just going someplace.
ReplyDelete(LOL Gwen will actually go through more because she will sacrifice herself in the prophecy :D)
ReplyDeleteDamien seemed unaffected as he glared at everyone staring then went after her. Soon, he caught up with her easily. "Barrett. I don't know what you've gone through, that's true. But you don't know what she's gone through, either. Look at things from her perspective for once- In a house she despises, rejected for her intelligence and view on things, hated for her ancestors, feared for the wrong reasons. Gwen hates who she is, and she doesn't need someone who supposedly has gone through worse pushing their anger and sorrows onto her when she's working to get through her own misgivings on life. It's exactly what you're doing, Barrett. The reason I'm disappointed and angry at you is not because you're doing what you are, but because I know you're smart enough to know it's not the right thing to do. Because I know that you actually care." Damien stared at her in the eyes, sharp gray meeting hazel.
(Aw! Sadface!! Well, I don’t doubt that Gwen has gone through worse, but I wanted Ada to have a little meltdown there…)
ReplyDeleteShe stared right back, hazel eyes blazing. “Damien, I’m not pushing anything on her! And I’m not judging her for her family, ‘cuz having Sirius Black as family is cool, and besides, the way you are is all about choice. I’m only condemning her attitude—she snapped at me because I, God forbid, looked at her!” Ada threw her hands into the air and let them drop to her sides, then began to pace. “I didn’t even look at her in a mean way! And then I got sarcastic. Sarcasm is kind of a family trait here, Damien. I can’t help that I use it. And how am I supposed to know that she hates herself? And I do care. I’m just stressed. I just got expelled and transferred, my parents hate me, and I looked at someone!”
She suddenly felt very tired and slid to the floor, her back against the wall. Peering up at Damien, she asked, “Do you think Gwen would accept an apology? ‘Cause you have a way to make someone guilty about being sarcastic to eine Mädchen mit einer schlechten Haltung.” She paused. “And would you accept an apology for freaking out in there? I just kinda snapped, and I’m sorry for it.”
(I know. :D)
ReplyDeleteDamien gave her a look. "Of course it's a family trait, Barrett. Everyone in Eagletalon's cursed with sarcasm. If you think about it, the reason Gwen snapped at you is because she's pressured. She won't actively say she forgives you, she'll probably just shrug it off in a little while because she's so used to it. Just keep in mind that Dracoslythers are infamous for keeping grudges, especially if you'll have class with her every day." He paused, then continued in a softer tone. "Look, I could come up with a thousand arguments against you and for you, but because this is your first day here I'll give you a chance. I forgive you. Next time, however, I might not be so forgiving. Remember that as House Head I can give you any punishment I would like." He narrowed his eyes, then seemed to make a decision and held out his hand to Ada. "Get up. Let's go to the Common Room to have some Firewhisky in peace, shall we?"
"I suppose," Ada replied, taking his hand and getting to her feet. "And a grudge? Pfah. Do you know how many people have held grudges against me? Half of the school at Schwarzenstein decided that I was a schwachkopf-- a moron. Not a big deal. Of course, Gwen seems like she may be more dangerous than the Schwarzedorn Haus." Then she smiled hesitantly at Damien. "I'm really glad you decided to forgive me. You're my only friend so far. And I won't make a scene like that again. Of course, I'm sure everyone thinks I'm unstable already, so I'd bet it wouldn't matter anyway..."
ReplyDeleteShiina looked over and narrowed her eyes at the new girl. When she realized what she was doing, she quickly looked away in shock. "What am I doing?" she thought. "I-it's not like I care about Damien or anything....right?"
ReplyDelete(LOL jealousy :D)
ReplyDeleteDamien smiled softly at her. "I don't think you're unstable," he told her, patting her shoulder awkwardly because he didn't really know what to do. He put an arm around her shoulders. "We have some time before lights out and curfew. Maybe I could give you a small tour around the school. What do you think?" He looked over his shoulder, feeling a gaze on him and Ada, and saw Shiina. Damien gave Shiina a weird look before turning back around.
(Is there a thing going on between Shiina and Damien? I only read some of the older comments... Oh, and quick random question: is Damien tall? Or average-height?)
ReplyDelete"Sure, if you don't mind giving up part of your evening," Ada replied gratefully, hugging him quickly and awkwardly. "I really am sorry for what I did. Although I do feel a small sense of accomplishment--I've never made someone so angry at me so quickly after meeting them," she told him with another of the half-smiles that were rapidly becoming her signature expression. "First time for everything, right?"
(Yeah, a little, look at the Death Lake comments. Damien's above average, but not extremely tall)
ReplyDeleteDamien grinned at her. "Yeah. I guess. I mean, there was my first suspension two months after first year." He grabbed her hand and lead her along the corridor. "Where do you wanna go? Library?"
As they left, Shiina stood up, looking as though she had an outline of fire around her. Then she quickly left for the lake again.
ReplyDelete( Okay, I'll do that... :D )
ReplyDelete"Sure," Ada replied happily. "I like libraries. Are there any Muggle books there? Some of them are rather interesting. I especially like Jane Austen."
Damien smiled. "Ah, Jane Austen. I read all her books three years ago," he told her. "I'm a Muggle, so I have a lot of Muggle books. There aren't many Muggle books, only a small shelf, but I have some in my room. I'll let you borrow my "Sense and Sensibility". Have you read JRR Tolkein's books?" Damien asked as he and Ada made their way to the Library.
ReplyDelete(comment next at library?)