Justin Finch-Fletchley (condign) wrote in riddikulus,
@ 2008-01-05 19:36:00

September 26, 1997 || Friday
Characters: Justin Finch-Fletchley & Megan Jones - More welcome
Setting: Sep 29, 1997. Friday. 8:30pm. The Armour Gallery
Rating: TBA
Summary: Justin is serving his last detention for Flitwick this week and get's a visitor. More details later.
Progress: In progress

It had been awhile since Justin had served detention. It had been twice that long since Filch was in charge of administering it. And surprise, surprise, he'd been given the job of shining the temperamental suits of armour in the Armour Gallery adjacent to the Trophy Room. Justin didn't know which was worse - the fact that he couldn't use a wand or the fact that the various suits of armour were still charmed with a humanoid enchantment and were rather fidgety.

Needless to say after being smacked in the head various times with metal gloves he wasn't exactly the most chipper detention dunce. If anything by the time he'd reached the fifth suite of armor he was ready to leave – unfortunately he had a good hour and a half left. It was no wonder the lower years were saved for the task of shining the various trinkets in the trophy room. If they were given this job many of them would be knocked unconscious if not killed by blunt trauma to the head.

Justin was in the middle of attempting to shine the helmet of Sir Killingston IV's suite of armour when it decided to poke him forcefully in the chest. In return Justin swatted the hand away and he cursed a rather irritated, "Damnit you piece of shite! Stop it!" The Hufflepuff's loud tone enticed the enchanted armour to forcefully shove the boy off the stepping stool he'd been using to be eye level with the various hunks of junk.

Justin landed with a resounding thud and a pained groan. The feeling of cold stone floor was not something he'd been anticipating. His irritation bordered on anger and it didn't help that his attention was drawn to the feet of someone approaching him who'd obviously been witness to his little....mishap.

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megsicle
2008-01-07 05:37 am UTC (link)

In her many years here at Hogwarts, Megan had never quite snooped around every little nook and cranny that the castle had to offer. So, even after being here for such a long amount of time, occasionally she found herself lost in some new section of the school. Never knowing where some of the hallways ended up, when she got lost, she usually wandered around for a while before finally ending up in a familiar place. Though, like most days, she didn't mind being lost, it wasn't like she had anything better to do than wander the halls. Somehow she had ended up in the trophy room, she had spent quite a few detentions in this very room over the years, she didn't look back fondly on those memories. She looked at her reflection in the recently shined trophies, she looked quite silly, even she had to admit that. During study hall she had made herself a shiny paper crown, anything to get out of doing her homework. And, she didn't really care how silly it made her look, she had worn it the rest of the day, and had yet to take it off.

She wasn't aware that anyone was even nearby until she heard the suits of armour moving about and the sound of something, or someone, hitting the ground. She stopped looking at her reflection to look in the direction of the armour room and quickened her pace to see what the ruckus was about, she had to hold back a laugh as she entered the room only to find Justin lying on the floor. "Oi! Justin! You alright?" She let out a giggle, because she couldn't hold it in any longer, and extended a hand out to him. "You got stuck with armour shining duty? It's the worst." A part of her wanted to start hounding him with questions of Susan, but she knew better than that, so she kept her lips closed on the subject.

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condign
2008-01-07 06:14 am UTC (link)

Megan's giggling didn't help matters. Justin wasn't exactly one to enjoy being laughed at when frustrated. The fact that it was a friendly face, however, kept him from barking at her with something...less friendly. He liked Megan, he always had, even if she had a habit of being a bit....unlikable with her love of rumours. Immediately, he wondered how long it'd be before she told everyone he wasn't studying in the library tonight.

He'd chosen not to tell anyone in Hufflepuff he'd been given detention. For one the circumstances of his being punished was embarrassing enough. And two, it wouldn't help with his "reputation" in the least. He wasn't exactly the most spot free individual Hogwarts to say the least. But he didn't enjoy spreading the news of his poor behaviour to everyone. Bragging about being reprimanded really wasn't who the boy was - thus his not making it public.

"It's a real pain," he mumbled in reply to her question as he took her hand and got to his feet. Dusting himself off he snatched the dusting towel from the ground and went through the motions of returning the stepping stool upright with his foot. "What are you doing up here so late?" he asked forcing himself to entertain some sort of friendly banter despite the near scowl on his face. He'd chosen not to comment on the silly head ornament she'd decided to sport.

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megsicle
2008-01-07 07:17 pm UTC (link)

With the little giggle out of her system, Megan had been able to keep a straight face. "I didn't even know you had detention this week." She said this casually, as she walked a little closer toward one of the suits of armour. "What did you do to get stuck with this anyways?" She asked, turning to look at him. While she was looking away, the suit of armour, who had been offended by how close she was standing took a swing at her. But since she hadn't been on a step ladder, its arm went right over her head. She jumped back in order to give the suit of armour some space. "What are you doing to these things? You've got them all angry!" She sounded a bit angry that she had almost gotten a good hit on the side of the head, but she was smiling the whole time she spoke.

"Oh, I was just wandering around." She said in reply to his question. "It's very easy for me to get lost in this place if I'm not watching where I'm going. That's how I ended up here." She continued, laughing lightly at her own stupidity for not knowing how to get around the castle completely yet. She looked around at the rest of the room, if all these suits of armour were just as angry as the one that almost got her, this place was definitely not safe for students to be shining things by hand.

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condign
2008-01-07 07:51 pm UTC (link)

Justin nodded knowingly as Megan revealed the true reason she'd found herself here. The boy had on more than one occasion been privy to being taken where the castle wanted him to go. Granted it was a little annoying when he had some place to be or something to do. For Megan, though, it seemed like she didn't give it much mind. He'd always admired her ability to adjust to circumstances.

"Sorry about Mr. Temperamental over there," Justin offered motioning toward the suit that had just taken a swing at Megan, "He wasn't exactly keen on my shining his breast plate. And that one over there," he pointed to the one next to it. "Apparently likes the gum on the back of his shield. They're all a bunch of stubborn hunks of metal if you ask me."

He turned back to the suit that had just assaulted him and placed his hand on his hip looking at the hallowed eye slots in a practical stare down. His conversation going seamlessly into talking from Megan to the enchanted hunk of metal. "This one here for example," he offered, "Doesn't want his helmet spruced up. Now frankly, I was being respectful by using the stepping stool. If he doesn't start cooperating I've no issues with removing the damned thing to get the job done."

The armour immediately straightened it's posture in a near attention and Justin offered Megan a triumphant grin before getting back on the stool and getting back to work. "You ready for the weekend, I take it?" he asked from the top of the stool as he subconsciously avoided answering Megan's first inquiry.

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megsicle
2008-01-16 10:12 pm UTC (link)

Megan had noticed that he had decided to ignore her question, but that didn't make the topic completely leave her mind, she was just as curious as ever (if not more so) as to why he was in detention. But the curiosity she had for the subject soon got pushed out of her mind as he started talking about how the suits of armour had been treating him. "They are strange. I know I wouldn't want to sit here collecting dust, even if the shining process may be uncomfortable for them." She followed his hand as he pointed at one across the room, the suit of armour seemed to almost be offended by what he had to say about it. "Yes, very stubborn." She said in agreement, nodding slightly, causing her crown to fall over her eyes. She was fond of the crown, but she was much more fond of seeing clearly, so she took it off and stowed it inside her bag that hung off her shoulder.

She got distracted by his change of speech from talking to her to the suit armour, and she would have nearly missed his question, thinking he was talking to the suit of armour. But, why on earth would he be asking a question like that to a suit of armour? And that thought alone pulled her back into their conversation. "Oh, you know me, I'm always ready for the weekend." She told him, chuckling a little. "It also might help that I treat most weekdays as though it were a weekend, it keeps me prepared." She added. "What about you? Got any exciting plans?" She put a slight amount of emphasis on the word plans as she spoke, it wasn't completely intentional, but she was very curious about what he may be up to, and more importantly who it would be with and if it would affect Susan at all.

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condign
2008-01-17 12:34 am UTC (link)

Justin offered a shrug in reply as he ran the rag in hand over the reluctant suit's shoulders. "I don't know...nothing exciting from what I can think of. I've got some tutoring stuff to do tomorrow morning with a Slytherin and a Gryffindor and then Sunday I've got a practical curse-breaking simulation with Professor Babbling."

In all honestly, the seventh year had decided to dedicate this weekend, and many to come, to his studies. With that curse-breaking apprenticeship in sight he was ready to buckle down on the hard work necessary to procure it himself. Being a Hufflepuff it was no surprise that he was already situating a game plan that would take-up great amounts of free time and dedication to the goal.

The entire thing with Morag MacDougal easdropping on his conversation with Babbling yesterday seemed to entice the seventh year to want the slot even more than he had before. The idea of that brown nosing Ravenclaw bint butting in on his territory pissed the boy off royally. On top of that he had reason to believe that she wasn't even interested in the position other than to be a competitive wench.

"What about you?" Justin had quickly as he shoved aside the sudden bitterness for his Ravenclaw rival that had washed over him when he brought up his Sunday plans. "Got any hot dates with a cardboard crowned prince?" he asked obviously teasing her crown. It was clear that Justin had missed Megan's emphasised curiosity.

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megsicle
2008-01-21 07:46 pm UTC (link)

Megan scrunched her face in response to his plans, those were things she definitely would not enjoy giving her weekend up for. "No, I wouldn't consider either of those as exciting." She laughed at this, in a way of showing that she really didn't mean to have it come out as offensive as it did, even if it didn't come out very offensive at all. She was never one to give her weekend up to studying of any sort, she rarely enjoyed giving up her free time during the week for that task, but it had to be done. But it all came down to the fact that she didn't think she would be using much of the things taught to her in the classroom in the future, at least when it came to a career. She hadn't given much thought to what she wanted to do when she was done with school, but it was clear to her it wouldn't include knowing how to transfigure a glass into any sort of animal.

She laughed at his jest toward her crown. "There seems to be a shortage of cardboard crowned princes here at Hogwarts. If you find one, be sure to let me know." She smiled brightly at him, she didn't really mind him poking fun at her for her silly crown, because she of all people knew that she can do strange things at times when it comes to curing her boredom. "Until then, I'm just fine letting everyone know that I am a cardboard crowned princess."

She stopped examining the suits of armour and decided to sit on the bench that was against the wall near the suit of armour Justin was currently trying to shine. "So..." She trailed off, trying to come up with a delicate way to ask what she wanted to ask, a way that made it look like she wasn't being too nosey. "Do you like Susan?" She blurted it out, she hadn't meant to, but when she couldn't come up with a more delicate way of asking, she had to get it out somehow. She bit her lip and looked away, waiting for his reaction. The question had the possibility of making this casual, friendly conversation turn horrible within seconds.

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condign
2008-01-21 10:18 pm UTC (link)

His immediate response was to offer a sigh and mild roll of his eyes. In the back of Justin's head he'd been counting the minutes before Jones geared into this particular topic. He'd expected the move to be a bit less...abrupt, to be entirely honest - but when she asked he wasn't exactly surprised. He'd suspected that the girl's were all aware of his and Susan's little flair of drama.

He waited a few beats as he continued with the task at hand before finally speaking in reply. "Yeah, I like, Susan. We've been friends for ages, haven't we?" He looked over at where Megan was sitting, "To be honest, though, the entire things been more drama than really necessary. In all fairness, I'm a bit exhausted with the subject."

Justin refolded his dust rag before stepping off the stool and moving it to another angle. An angle that required him to look around the suit at his female friend - it was his subtle attempt to avoid eye contact.

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megsicle
2008-01-22 03:47 am UTC (link)

Megan hadn't really meant to bring it up that way, but it had been on her mind for quite some time. It just seemed to her as though they didn't need to be skirting around the topic anymore. Besides, she knew how much Susan liked him, and she wanted to see her happy. And with his response, she turned to look at him, and gave him a 'you know what I meant' sort of look. "But do you fancy her?" She knew he couldn't get around answering her with this phrasing.

"You're right, it has become much more complicated than it should have been in the first place." In her opinion it seemed as though there was far too much avoidance going on between the two, if she were in their place, there would be no way she would be able to pretend it didn't happen at all. "But, that doesn't mean you should completely ignore it all." She added, leaning forward so she could look at him around the suit of armour.

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condign
2008-01-22 08:27 pm UTC (link)

"Who said anything about my ignoring it?" Justin asked with some defense. "I talked to her a few days ago and I'm sure you've heard by now that we've decided to take things slow." Now that he'd showed his assumption, Justin wondered if Susan had even bothered to inform her little posse on that bit of information. He wasn't entirely sure now, considering the fact that he was more or less being interrogated.

"Besides," he shrugged in half defeat, "There's not much I can do when she's avoiding me outright. I've been making the effort to get back to how things were before all this rubbish happened."

And it was true, after their little talk, Justin had made the effort to overlook their little tiff over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, it seemed that Susan was intentionally preoccupying herself with other things. And in all honesty, Justin wasn't going to force himself to spend time with her if she wasn't interested or in the mood. That was kind of the point of taking it slow.

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