Thursday, December 11th
Uniform

Normally around this time students were in an anxious state.  With one more day left of midterms and then holiday right around the corner, they were practically bouncing off the walls - some cramming last minute, others day dreaming about the Winter Festival that was to take place in Hogsmeade.  Alex, on the other hand, was completely at ease.   There was no reason for him to care about either midterms or the Winter Festival.  He was no academic scholar.... And the Winter Festival meant nothing to him besides another chance to do what he called ‘spicing things up’.

So, while all the students around him rushed by with books in hand or with shopping lists, Alex strolled cooly up to the first floor holding four signs in his hand.  He picked a spot along the wall and leaned his back against it.  It was time to partake in one of his favorite activities - O.W.Ls.  Only this wasn’t the type of O.W.Ls that made every student bury their nose in dusty books at the end of term.... No, this was Alex’s own creation.  The four cards in his hands each had a letter on them - O for outstanding, E for exceeds  expectations, A for acceptable, and T for troll.  Each time a member of the opposite sex would walk by Alex would hold up one of the cards, therefore giving the girl her score.  Some would view this as mean and cruel, but since when did Alex care?  He had scored a number of hook-ups through this method.  What worked, worked.

Hello there Lady Brunette.... Alex held up the ‘E’ card, giving the Hufflepuff brunette a small wave.  The sound of heels caught his attention next and he looked over to see a gorgeous blonde.  However, said blonde beauty was holding hands with a Gryffindor Alex didn’t recognize.  Well, this would be fun.  He held up the ‘O’ card, making sure the blonde saw it and winked.  On cue, the presumed boyfriend turned in Alex’s direction, throwing him a nasty look.  Alex feigned a yawn and held up the troll card, smirking.  He reached into his pocket and gripped his wand as the boyfriend made to come at him.  However, the girl held him back and pulled him along down the corridor.

“Stupid git....,” Alex snorted.  He took his hand out of his pocket.  Why wink wink, wave wave to you too, Miss Exceeds Expectations!

Ayla had been walking down the corridors with no real destination in mind. She was restless. Mid terms were stressing her out, stupid rumors flying wild around the school were stressing her out and no matter how much she tried to avoid people like Xavier and Callum they kept popping up every turn she took. Not to mention Xavier's new girlfriend doing her best to make Ayla miserable as well. In short the Canadian Pixie was eager to get the term over and done with and get on with the holidays.

As per usual after classes Ayla's uniform had become completely disheveled. Her skirt was a little higher and her blouse was completely unbuttoned showing off a plain white tank top that stuck to her skin like glue accenting the curves she had. Curves that weren't usually seen on a fourteen year old, curves that had caused stupid gits like Callum Knight to spread rumors about her trying to seduce Professor Frasier. She hadn't been able to look the Muggle Studies Professor in the eye for over a week.

She had spotted the blonde and her Gryffindor boyfriend getting angry at someone but from her current position she couldn't see who had ticked the boyfriend off. As she got nearer she wasn't at all surprised to see Alexander Snark leaning against a marble banister, looking handsome as ever, grading the girls that past. No wonder the Gryffindor looked so angry.

Ayla bit her lip as she approached. Why was it that all the really hot guys in school were Slytherins? It just wasn't fair. As she got closer to Snark part of her hoped he didn't see her while the other half was dying to know what kind of grade she got. Ayla knew other people saw her as conceited but she knew she had inherited her mother's beauty and wasn't going to try and hide that fact. Then again if the Slytherin Senior decided to give her a Troll or something she doubted she'd be able to stop herself from trying to jinx his face off.

"I'm sure your mother will be happy to see you've finally taken an interest in grades." She gave the older boy a sly smile her Canadian accent rather prominent amoungst the sea of Euro drawls. It was her job, as far as she was concerned, to know everything about everyone and it wasn't exactly hard to find out that Headmistress Snark's pride and joy didn't really care about his classes.

A group of giggly fifth year girls walked by.  Alex would have given them all ‘A’s if it weren’t for the girl tailing behind the group.  She was rather plump with bad acne that she hadn’t even bothered to try and cover up.  An untamed unibrow sat above her mud brown eyes which were accompanied by different-sized ears.  If that wasn’t enough to disgust Alex, the smell was.  Her robes were covered in old and new stains that let off hideous odors.  He seriously about gagged.  Immediately he held up his ‘T’ card, though he was unsure if she even qualified for that.

Letting out his breath (he had been forced to hold it) Alex was relieved that the swarm of girls had moved out of smelling distance.  How could they stand to be around someone who smelled like that?  Were they all lacking their sense of smell?  That seemed the only way Alex could see anyone being to put up with the Troll girl.  Though he was no Ferguson Amherst, Alex still valued and appreciated the concept of personal hygiene, something that the Troll girl obviously did not.

Luckily for Alex he would not be thinking of Troll girl for much longer.  As he looked to his side he saw quite a pleasant view.  A high skirt and an open blouse that revealed a skin-hugging, curve-loving top.... Alex would have had to be blind to not be instantly interested in that.  His eyes flickered up to the owner of those curves clothes.  Ayla Collins, a third year and quite the socialite.  Alex had heard of her.  But, geez, was the really just a third year? 

"I'm sure your mother will be happy to see you've finally taken an interest in grades."

Alex grinned, pulling out the ‘E’ card and holding between his fingers so that it was visible.  “I’m sure she’d be even more happy to know that I’m such a generous professor.”

Ayla smirked again and a pink blush took to her cheeks. Although a tiny voice in the back of her head was upset that she had only gotten an E and not an O she was still very flattered that the seventh year obviously appreciated what he saw. It was good too since she had really been needing the boost. Perhaps she could stick around for a little longer and take a few more ego boosts before dragging herself back to reality.

Ayla put her hand on her hip pulling aside her uniform dress shirt showing a trim waist and an accented hip. She had done it on purpose of course. Ayla had never been afraid of flaunting her body, perhaps that was why she had gotten into so much trouble with Xavier or why people were so quick to believe the rumors about her. She steeled herself against the thoughts and was determined that for the time being she wouldn't care about any of that. She was in the presence of a handsome seventeen year old that had given her an E for looking so good.

"Well then Professor Snark, I hope I did everything I could to deserve that grade." She gave him a wink. Holy Helga, if she was like this around Professor Frasier no wonder everyone believed Callum's rumors, "Is there anything I can do to bump that up an O?"

Some people found Alex’s behavior appalling, others found it distasteful, and still others thought he was quite the character.  True, Alex was one heck of a guy.  But in all honestly you could sum him down to a simple age-old concept - a young adult male, sometimes referred to as ‘teenager’ (though Alex would gut punch anyone who referred to him as such).  Anyone could see the signs - the way having his mother as the headmistress ‘cramped his style’, authority figures were as good as smelly stuff left in the lavatories, the term ‘bookworm’ was translated as ‘one who gets the living pixies out out of ‘em’, and how Alex’s top priority in life at the moment was girls. Yes, even though he considered himself to be ‘big stuff’ he was nothing more than a boy with a few too many active hormones.

Of course those hormones were the first to notice as Ayla brushed back her uniform to rest her had on her hip, thus exposing her fine fit figure.  She had to be the most attractive bold third year he had ever met.  Usually third year girls were still stuck in their fantasies of a Prince Charming coming to sweep them off their feet, not someone like Alex who laughed at the idea and believed that the word ‘commitment’ was a synonym for ‘prison’.  Not that he minded how flirty Ayla was being, because he certainly didn’t.  It was a pleasant, very welcome surprise.

"Well then Professor Snark, I hope I did everything I could to deserve that grade....Is there anything I can do to bump that up an O?"

There had been rumors going around about Ayla trying to seduce Professor Frasier that Alex was just now remembering.  Rumors spread by his fellow housemates, nonetheless.  Alex did love his house but you still found the biggest gits in existence there.  No wonder none of them were as good as getting girls as Alex... because he knew better.  The idea was to start the rumors after you snogged them but only if they’re the clingy, annoying, jealous type.... because some girls would be up for a second or third round and still be okay with not having anything permanent.  And if the rumors about her were true, well, Alex could care less.  A younger girl liking older guys wasn’t any different from a younger guy liking older girls, was it?  Though Alex couldn’t talk on behalf of Professor Frasier, he couldn’t blame Ayla for going after guys with more... experience.

“I would say that you have.  You’re quite a natural,” Alex shuffled the cards in his hands, “As for doing something to bump your grade up?” He grinned, “I’m a big believer in extra credit.  And creativity.  Extra credit and creativity could possibly, almost definitely, change my mind.”

Ayla was a flirt, she always had been. Even back home when she was still in grade school. It had been hard not to get interested in guys at a young age and react to a rush of hormones flowing through your body when you had gone through puberty at the age of nine. Although it had caused a lot of the same kind of rumors that were currently going around about her, it had been easier back then. Being the only girl in grade five that had boobs was bound to have people spread rumors about them being fake but somehow the muggle method of stuffing was a lot less offensive and easier to shrug off than Callum's most recent claims of her using magic to enhance her bust.

She didn't have to be a genius to notice that Alex had noticed her and she didn't just mean the grade he had given her. The way his eyes had run over her body when she pulled back her shirt was enough to let her know that even if he wasn't really interested in her, his body definitely was. She wondered if she could manage a little snog session with the senior to take her mind off of everything. Everything from Xavier's stupidity, Bella's attack, Dahlia's embarrassing save, Callum's stupid rumors and most of all how much she was longing to be in the arms of her best friend Blake.

Ayla moved forward to lean against the marble banister with him, allowing the flow of students to move smoothly past them. She almost wished they weren't in such a public place, almost. A light blush had come to her cheeks when he expressed that she had definitely earned her grade. The pink tinge to her cheeks turned red when he mentioned creativity and extra credit. She wasn't against the idea in the slightest but she couldn't think of anything she could do for him.

Once again she moved, this time to stand directly in front of him. She raised one petite hand to the tie around his neck and absent mindedly stroked her fingers up and down the length of it. She looked up at him considering there was over a foot of height difference between them. Ayla actually found it was easier to flirt with guys that were taller than her and she was sure with such close proximity he'd have quite the view if he cared to look down.

Ayla gave him a wink, "There's a little too many people around for me to get creative, if you catch my drift." She wasn't entirely sure what she meant herself but she left it up to his own imagination. Let the hormone driven seventeen year old run wild with thoughts of what she could do for him if there were someone alone and private.