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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 0:03:49 GMT -5
Adrian sat within a corner of the Slytherin common room. He faced the back. Though he sat secluded, he overlookd the whole situation. Quite like an intendant would from his chair at the office. Perhaps a bit more subtle, but nothing would esape the Gaunt's cold eyes. It would have to be rather fast and sneaky to even try making it through the dark, leather-furnitured room without him noticing.
Though his attention was on the books and scrolls infront of him, it could be told, that his being filled the room. His presence was aware enough to have eyes, where he had no eyes.
And he was all alone, too.
One could wonder why he had dressed up as much as he had. Well, not that the school uniform was a status of being dressed up. But it was the winter break, and no teacher would demand anything other than leisure wear. Though free to wear what ever they wanted, most students did just that; they were wearing sweaters and pullovers. Or the sad excuse of what the Weasleys' called clothes.
In a way, Adrian was blessed.
Down here, he didn't have to put up with the bunch.
Their level of noise sometimes felt like a bother to him.
Even so much as a tie was on place on his impervious appearance. Vest and dress shirt. Every button closed, wrists held together with silver buttons regarded with snakes. A Gaunt had to look the part Gaunt, after all. Nothing less was acceptable. Nothing less would be allowed.
Even though his father wasn't in Hogwarts.
He would know, if the rules were being breached.
The only form of leisure that Adrian allowed himself was his blazer. It was, neatly, hanged upon the lean of the chair that he occupied. Far enough to the side of the rest to keep it from becoming knitted due to the pressure of his body. Unlike leather, the jacket material didn't do so well with being sat on.
Driving his quill over the paper, he spread words. His ink ws black, but had a green, almost emerald gleam to it. Though it died, it never lost that state of looking like droplets of velvet tears. A the end of a thought, the calm male halted his feather before looking up.
The room was still empty.
So might as well.
His stone face didn't move. But his lips parted. Slowly, he took a sip of the steaming tea that had been to the side of his resting arm. That was all, however. His break didn't include a look outside, where a white blanket covered Hogwarts' grounds.
Ever so industrious.
Only one more year.
Then, he would make it. He would appeal to the head master; access to the forbidden part of the library. If only, there was a way, to keep this knowledge from his father...
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Post by LORELAI GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 0:17:49 GMT -5
Lori had been spending quite a bit of time in the Common Room lately. Much of this time had been used for one of three things: studying her charms and defense against the dark arts, making out with Patrick, or simply lounging around. She didn't care to be outside of the Common Room much. With how few students there were, there was really nothing for her to do outside of it aside from look for that book which her father had requested of her, and to this point, she and Patrick still had yet to successfully find it.
Lori made her way down the stairs of the Girls' Dormitory. Though she was not dressed in her Slytherin robes, she was still displaying the symbols of her ancestors. She wore a Green jacket, the Slytherin emblem of a snake was upon her chest.She also wore green sweatpants with a single silver stripe which ran down vertically the side of her pants.
Upon making her way down, she noted that her brother was already down there, apparently working on something. She would have greeted him, but he seemed to be busy. Instead, she made her way down to one of the marble tables and sat on a chair in front of it. She pulled out her charms book and set it upon the table. In moments, she was engaged within the book's contents.
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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 0:40:13 GMT -5
Adrian took note of the steps of his sister even before they had fully passed the threshold that would lead her from the girl's dormitory into the spacious area of the common room. It was supposed to be the living room for all Slytherin students during their time in Hogwarts. Naturally, it had the space to back up the same amount of students without ever appearing crowded.
He had't ever been in other common rooms, of course, but he doubted they had the clinical distance and coldness, the lack of warmth and emotions that the green book lights, Silver Snakes and leather furniture related.
Two things filled Adrian's mind in regard to his sister;
The first was that she had been running around the library, trying to locate some book. Or so he assumed. He didn't know what she'd been tasked with. But he knew that she's failed so far.
The second thing could, no doubt, only be her sidekick. As of recently, they had been clingly. Or so Adrian recalled. It wasn't really his business, or was it? But he had to keep tabs on his relative.
One way or another.
It was a mixture of uncaring and not wanting her to be a liability.
"In the House Gaunt, you greet an elder and superior, do you not?"
His tone accused. It wasn't spiteful. It wasn't loud. It was a lecture, as factual as the letters of her Charms book. He could have said good morning, of course. But that would have been against the purpose of his mention.
She was younger.
She had to greet him.
Values of the House Gaunt carried over into the halls of Hogwarts, did they not? Would she have sparked a reaction and she muttered a silent greeting and then went on to do her reading?
She'd never know.
The situation was that she hadn't greeted, and her brother called her out on it. In the same, collected and expecting voice that may come of their father's lips. That gleam in his eyes promising hurt, Adrian had not. Instead, his hues remained on the book infront of him.
She wasn't even in the room.
She hadn't greeted him.
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Post by LORELAI GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 0:56:04 GMT -5
Lori soon heard the voice of her brother nearby. It irked her. His tone. She knew him and his demand for respect. It was almost funny. However, here, her father wasn't to protect her. Her brother was stronger, no doubt, in magical skill, though she attributed this to age and not talent. She considered herself to be far more talented. This was the reason, after all, that she was being considered as heiress to serve if her brother passed away. The Gaunt family usually chose a male heir, but it was clear that should Adrian face an untimely passing, none of her other siblings were worthy of the role.
"Shut up... We all know that the reason you are an heir over me is because you are a boy," Lori hissed in the language of parseltongue. Perhaps this wasn't the complete truth. Age was a factor as well, though Lori knew age was something which could be bypassed, as was the case for her oldest brother, Archer.
Lorelai closed her charms book and set it upon the table. She pushed it forward with the tip of her index finger and stood facing her brother. Her right hand raised and she ever so delicately displaced a bit of her hair behind her right ear. She then crossed her arms whilst studying her brother carefully. While she wished to speak her mind, she wanted to be sure she saw any hostile signal her brother evinced, be it a snarl or the drawing of his wand. If the latter were the case, she would certainly be quick to run and she could be very quick on her feet.
"And that is the only reason," she spoke again, but this time in English.
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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 1:26:37 GMT -5
When the ancient power of Parsel brushed against Adrian's ears, he did look up. Slowly, listening to each and every word, he raised his face to meet hers. Blue eyes struck across the room. Seeking not so much hers, but her very lips. Thin and young as they moved to spread the power of their blood in vocal waves.
Was it the fact that she'd used the unique language?
Or was it the fact that she had blatantly disrespected him.
Again.
For a second time.
Whatever cold emotion it was, there was a slight movement below Adrian's features. Just enough of a counter hiss to her verbal puking, the kind of response a more seasoned, more venerable competitor would give. A dry smirk? Perhaps that. Just not yet a cold smile.
Adrian never smiled when he enforced his will.
Whoever else would have had a lecture. Verbal, but only that. Perhaps five points for the nerve of telling him to... "Shut up!"
The matter of the lack of greeting was disregarded in favour of the bigger insult. That she would even use that voice so offensively.
Below his table, Adrian's palm has grasped his wand. Out of sight and hidden. Given his unmoving features. The lack of smile. It wouldn't even display on his passive face that he'd cast magic.
Until, suddenly...
There'd be no jet of magic. Only a sudden, additional presense in the room. Curling betwene her legs, the legs of her chair, and the legs of her table. Bigger than a mere rope. But still, tying and pulling it all together...
Longer.
Thicker.
"Very well. Speak."
To who, though?
Clearly Adrian meant for her to use her Snake Mouth. To a very reptile of the species. A scaled head would appear to the side of her shoulder, and if she hadn't moved at the slightest moment, she'd already find herself wrapped; pinned in place like a little mouse. Denied the right to stand, forced to sit, by her tall opponent.
From cold eyes, the Anaconda looked down at Lorelai.
Did she really dare to compete with him of all people? Did she really dare to make her competition so openly?
He gave more muse for her evil words to come. Maybe she'd do as spunky with the repitle, as she'd done with him. Adrian had not moved once through all of this. He was still seated, though his look rested on her. His cold gaze, like judging glaciers.
Wide-spread fangs demanded her to answer, and the snake hissed its desire to devour her, despite her blood, despite line of birth.
"Ssssszzzz...~"
She wanted to speak Parsel?
Adrian challenged her very claim to the 'throne', without ever lowering himself to the act of speaking Parsel. The language itself wasn't the problem.
It was that she had adressed him.
She did not decide the course of any of their conversations.
He did.
And she'd do well to remember.
Snaking between her legs, the creature's body twisted. It's massive, thick body broke through the legs of her chair to make her even smaller, to make her fall. She'd end up, surrounded by snake, on the floor, predator eyes hungering for her body.
She wouldn't break the predator's will.
Her Parsel was weaker than his, which he had yet to speak.
Or was it?
His eyes revealed that devastating truth, but with an angry snake coiling around her body, or hunting her across the room, maybe she had different things on her mind than to allow the cold gaze of her brother to skewer her stubbornness.
Spells
Serpensortia [silent incantation]
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Post by LORELAI GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 1:43:39 GMT -5
Somehow, Lorelai had seen it coming. Her mind's eye hadn't prepared her to dodge it. Nor did she know exactly the spell he was going to use. However, what she had anticipated was that he would try something. With that knowledge, she quickly drew her wand from her sleeve, but before she could raise it to defend herself, a snake waas flying through the air toward her, having been summoned from her brother's wand. She had turned away to run, but through the velocity at which the snake had been summoned, it's wait coiled around her. Gravity had decided to play against her. The weight of the snake against her back forced her to fall hard on her stomach, the snake now coiling against her body and restricting her movements.
"Bloody hell, Adrian," Lori huffed as she attempted to struggle herself free. Of course, doing so only made the snake attempt even harder to restrict her. Lori still held her wand's handle clasped tightly in her right hand, though casting a spell like this, or pointing her wand at the snake was much too difficult and dangerous in this predicament, though if her brother didn't force the snake away, she certainly wouldn't have a choice.
"That's right... try to prove your power by bullying your little sister. That makes you look soooo strong," Lori hissed sarcastically. Getting free of the snake wouldn't be easy, but she had other plans as well. There was obviously more than one way to skin a cat, and she didn't have to fall for her brother's game of discussion for mastery over the anaconda.
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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 2:14:36 GMT -5
For all its hungry hissing...the snake seemed content with keeping up the status quo; tying up Adrian's sister, like he had told her to by whatever means. It kept its heavy body on top of the smaller girl, and wrapped her up tightly. Tight enough to make her wand point away from Adrian, though perhaps not itself, tight enough to make breathing harder, not tightly enough to really harm her.
Without a care in the world, Adrian got up.
She wasn't even that important, was she?
He had no need to disarm her.
His wand flew through the room, but it didn't end up pointing at his dear sister. On the contrary, it pointed to the mess the snake had left. The table and chair that had been thrown over. The carpet that had been knitted and showed the signs of a fight. Even if it was just a little one.
A couple of mumbled words and the pierced chair reconstructed itself, as well as the table's surface. It dusted itself off, returned Lorelai's book to its original position, and docked the reading chair under the table's edge.
Neatly, too.
As it had been.
Only then, took the wand another direction. Lorelai would be the ultimate target. But before marking her, the wand's tip past Adrian's open ink bottle. With a flick and swip of his wrist, he produced a droplet or two's worth of liquid. What should fall toward the floor and stain it didn't. It rotated around its own axis, like a liquid planet, kept in the air before Adrian's wand.
Only when it pointed at her, did the ink come lose in the form of a splashing stream. All above her jacket and the wear below.
"Look at you," Adrian accused.
This time. It was more...slow.
It didn't sound gentle or forgiving. If anything, it was belittling. How one would speak to a little child.
Extending his free arm to the ink stains on her jacket, he shook his head. Surely this was more of an act to feel her inferior than his own personality showing. But this had to be directed.
For she didn't follow the script.
She didn't follow the rules.
"Go change your shirt and jacket, it's all full of ink. You can't walk around like that, not even on Winter Break. Uphold the colours of our house with honour.
At least try, as much as you can..."
Little girl.
His gaze told her what he wanted to hear when she returned downstairs. And he would be sitting at his desk. The very same position, before she'd entered. Expecting to her the very same thing he had missed the first time. Reading the very same page, carrying the very same, cold expression of disregard.
The snake disappeared. It became magic rain, a small explosion. Hardly anything she would feel. But there would be even more stains. Charred marks, on the green of her blazer.
He would do it again and again.
Beat her.
Until she realized how futile it was.
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Post by LORELAI GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 2:41:36 GMT -5
Pissed off.
Lori struggled with every bit of strength she had to get free once she felt the liquid ink soak through her jacket. Embarrassing. This was nothing less than humiliating. Her favorite jacket. Her new jacket. It donned the emblem of her ancestor, whom she treasured. It was a title that she treasured, however, she would never understand why his title was being given to Adrian. Certainly, her father loved her. Without a doubt. She certainly felt as though she was his most treasured child... but still, here she was, laying at her older brother's feet.
She didn't cry. She shed not a tear. For how humiliating this situation was, this was most uncharacteristic of Lorelai. She had always been quick to tear. But not today. She would not allow herself to appear vulnerable. Not in front of him. She would not allow herself to appear weak. She would not give him that satisfaction.
She felt a sudden relief as the snake which had previously been coiled around her body vanished into thin air, from which it came. Her body already felt sore from having struggled so defiantly. She pushed the palms of her hands against the floor and pulled herself up. She planted one foot firmly on the ground, and it was soon followed by another. She turned around to face her brother. Did he understand... that she was more magically gifted? She wondered. Perhaps it didn't matter. All that mattered was who was stronger at this very point in time. The future meant nothing.
Lorelai began walking back to the girl's dormitory. She took only a moment to snarl at her brother before walking past him. She said not a word.
It was fifteen minutes before she emerged from the Girl's dormitory. She took a single step out from the staircase. Her eyes immediately trailed to her brother, who was still in the same place of which he had been earlier. He was still sitting at the desk and reading that same book as earlier. However, some things would be different. Lorelai was no longer in the same outfit she had been wearing only minutes ago. Now, she was dressed in a silver miniskirt. Above which, for her top, she wore a green blouse. This was coupled with white stockings and mary janes.
Lorelai stood, snarling still. She said nothing. She only stood, now turning away from him, struggling to force herself to greet him.
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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 2:59:39 GMT -5
Adrian greeted Lorelai's snarl with nothing but disregard. She was pissed off? Why would he care. She had brought his upon herself.
Calmly, he picked the page of his book - finishing it first. His finger remained on the edge of the paper, long enough to give her to understand what all the magic had.
The future didn't matter after all.
And what she cared for the title of heir...
Like he cared.
But if she believed he did, it would keep her off his back, out of his affairs, at least, most of the time. If he gave her this rivalry to focus on, there'd be little in the ways of what she could do.
She wasn't his real enemy. Their father was.
But no one knew. No one would know. Within Adrian's mind, between his face and thoughts, there was a barrier of almost magic nature. Even a wizard with the skill to pierce into thoughts and memories to read them would have a hard time locating Adrian's true self.
Maybe if she did, she could harm him more than she could harm him right now. By destroying his credibility. By destroying the act he put up infront of his father. But how far would Adrian go to keep her from sniffing around...?
Wordless seconds passed before Adrian's eyes raised from the paper once more. She had introduced herself so nicely. With a grunting sound, too. So the least he could do was look up.
The changes in her fashion were lost to him. He could see it, obviously, but he didn't care much for the details of her wear. Be it a skirt, pants or jeans.
Whatever.
The thing of importance was her face. Not so much the expression on it, for he would let that fly, but the thin coming from her lips - if there were to come any sound, other than noises.
His ears were looking for words, weren't they?
Specific ones, too.
The attetion of his cold, expecting eyes was all she'd get. He wouldn't vocalize it again, for wha he'd wasted words already.
But perhaps was the standing infront of his table her way of bowing. She hadn't just gone back to her table, after all.
No motion betraying his thoughts, her older brother looked at her. Nothing in his eyes betraying any sense of love or care for her. Only strict energy, demanding tribute to the rules of House Gaunt.
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Post by LORELAI GAUNT on Dec 28, 2011 3:12:06 GMT -5
So many hexes and curses graced the surface level of Lorelai's mind. If only she could use any one of them. She wouldn't dare though. She knew that if she did, not only would he get her back much worse later, but she would also find herself in trouble for having assaulted a prefect. This did not stop her from inwardly envisioning the hilarity of her revenge. It would have made her feel so much better, and much less helpless.
Still, as she stood here, her knees were shaking just a bit. She hoped that it wasn't visible to him, but in the miniskirt, he could probably see every buckle of her knees, be it slight each one. She could feel his eyes, scanning her and reading her. He was waiting for her to say it... something. The words of which she still had not figured out. Perhaps it was just a casual greeting? Perhaps it was something more. She crossed her arms behind her back somewhat casually.
"Good morning, lovely brother," Lorelai hissed with an obvious undertone of distaste. She hadn't meant to make it so obvious, but considering the situation and her nerves, she could hardly help it. She didn't look him directly in the eyes, but rather focused more on his neck, or in that general vicinity.
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Post by ADRIAN GAUNT on Dec 29, 2011 19:33:32 GMT -5
Though she shook and could barely hide her anger, or the humilation she felt, Adrian didn't move at all. He didn't show anything at all. Nothing.
Cold like the face of a stone wall covered in snow, there was only disregard for her display. Or was it only an added amount of mutilation?
He could control himself at all times. She couldn't. She was the little child, the little girl, unfit to be heir.
And he was the heir.
Perhaps the silence was meant to tell her this.
When her lovely words rolled across the room, Adrian looked up. He met her gaze. Once more, in a recreation of when she had appeared before; only that she had been in pants then, and not a skirt.
Not that the outfit mattered.
There was no smile.
She mocked him, even then.
"Good morning.
You could do me a favour, sister."
Giving her a polite expression, he shoved the empty glass of ink from next to his scrolls over the table, to the edge to which she stood closest. The lid was back in place, but only a tiny droplet of green liquid remained in the ornamental glass.
It was quite obvious what he desired.
"I've run out of ink. So much to write, I'll have to place an order. But at the same time, I'd like to keep on writing. Be so sweet and get me one of yours while I get an owl."
Glacier eyes beset her. There was no agression in them, just the weight of reality. He had made her say hello despite her stubbornness. And she'd get the ink, from her own stash, after he had used his to sully her shirt.
Wouldn't she?
She was a good girl.
So well behaved, too.
How could she possibly deny her loving, older brother~?
"Once you're done, you should perhaps focus on working the tasks that have been giving to you by father. And not spend as much time with useless things.
Clearly you can not accept failure so willingly."
She hadn't found the book yet, had she?
Adrian stood. His jacket fell in place and he closed he closed a couple of buttons around his mid, just enough to keep the wind from blowing into the fine material. He was going to get an owl and place the order for ink. Though it would have lasted until tomorrow, the issue with Lorelai had just caused it to deplete earlier.
He wouldn't take long. Upon his return, he expected a glass of ink to be on his table, for he left his pergaments in place. As well as his quill. His books, too.
Surely she wouldn't be that foolish.
Or it was a trap. He had every reason to act Prefectly on her when his stuff only showed so much as a dent or a crease.
Leaving his sister with a small 'list' of things to do, he thought to himself that he'd prefer if she just complied for once. His father expected him to keep a tight rule. And his father ruled harshly himself.
He wasn't her enemy, but he couldn't allow her to grow snotty on him. Maybe it was her unwill to accept him as heir that had their stubborn heads collide every so often.
He'd see if she complied once he returned.
Though it was far from the dungeons to the owlery, the slack of his steps suggested that he wouldn't take that long. And there had better been some ink and a studious Lorelai upon his return.
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