Lunch

So far the entire week had gone splendidly. Classes were enjoyable, they hadn't gotten too difficult yet. Things with Aurora had been going perfectly, and so had things with most of Slytherin house... so long as he kept his head down. Really, if things continued in this fashion the year would prove to be very lovely.  To top it all off, everyone seemed to be excited about the tournament. When it wasn't Vex going on about how fun it would be, it was some other student. The older years ready to meet the challenge head on, and the younger years wishing they could. Everyone was looking forward to it.

Well, everyone except Vulpes.

Vulpes, as per his nature, was too gentle to understand the point of it all. The dangerous aspect out weighed the adventurous fun that the others saw. It wasn't that he didn't want it to happen. He just thought that a student was too young to compete. He really lacked a sense of adventure. Of course when Vex heard about this he was... disappointed, to say the least. But of course he would be. Vex was the type to meet any challenge head on. Where as Vulpes would rather avoid confrontation. Still, his cousin had sworn he'd get Vulpes to change his mind, some how. However, the Slytherin highly doubted it.

Friday was normal enough up until lunch time. Vulpes went to class and almost fell asleep in them, and in the meantime he went about his daily routine with Aurora. But after Charms, the two had to part for a moment, as Vulpes  had to head down to the dungeons to grab his Defense book. On his way back up he slipped into old habits, listening to loud music with his headphones. Of course, after the summer he had updated the playlist. Now he had obscene amounts of techno to party to.

This wouldn't have been an issue, normally. Except this time when he was at the instrumental part of 'Rainbow Veins' a very loud car-horn blared through the speakers. While Vulpes was no stranger to public humiliation, this time was slightly more awkward for he was crossing the threshold to the Great Hall as it happened, and a multitude of foreign students bore witness as he screamed and fell over out of fright.

Right away he knew what had happened. Vex had jinxed them just to make him look silly. Well it worked. Mood slightly lowered Vulpes sighed and picked himself up off the floor, ignoring the laughter. Ducking slightly he made his way to where Aurora was at the Gryffindor table, offering her a small smile as he sat. "Sorry I'm late. I got sort of sidetracked at the door."

Aurora smiled sadly at Vulpes's approach.  "I heard." she said sympathetically.  Clearly Vex wasn't relenting in his 'let's bother my cousin' attitude.  She remembered vividly over the summer of how he was with Vulpes.  It was always about competition, which made Aurora curious to watch, since competition wasn't in Vulpes's nature.  One would think after sixteen years Vex would realize this and move on to torment someone else.

"You know, I could challenge him to duel so that when I win, he'll have to knock it off," she offered stiffly, knowing he'd never go for it.  "That is, win again." she noted, referring to the visit she had with Vulpes's family over the summer.  As per tradition, they all participated in good-natured duels with each other.  It so happened that when Aurora stepped up to the challenge, Vex underestimated her and ended up eating his words.

"I put my name in the Goblet this morning," she announced nonchalantly, eying her boyfriend for a reaction.  Half-expecting a lecture of students being too young to compete, she slowly drank her goblet of pumpkin juice.  She didn't want to worry him, but she wanted him to be open to the idea.  She knew he was uninterested in participating, but maybe she can pick at his reasoning.  "Why won't you do it, again?"

Vulpes shook his head. "No, it's okay," he said calmly. While he loved the fact that Vex had lost to Aurora and had barely won against himself this summer, Vulpes didn't think another fight should be used to solve the issues. "I don't think he would agree to it. Plus, if you get caught you'd get in trouble." Not to mention Vulpes didn't think it was really worth fighting over. Let Vex have his fun. It was mostly harmless.

He didn't react when she told him he put her name in. "That's no surprise," Vulpes responded nicely. He knew she was going to; he had expected her to do so. While he didn't like it, it wasn't his place to say otherwise. "I figure you wouldn't be much of a Gryffindor if you didn't. I know Cy was trying to think of a way to pass the age line." Was, because she no longer was attempting to. At least not that Vulpes knew of. She seemed to have given up after being told that, even if she managed to put her name in, which she would never be able to do, she would also never be picked over the older students.

Vulpes let out a huff at her asking as to why he didn't want to put his name in and why he wasn't planning too. "I just don't see myself doing well in it." After all, he wasn't the greatest Wizard ever. "I'm not much of a competitor. All I'm really good with are charms, so unless I can get past a task by only using protego, I'd probably be more of a hindeance than a help." He let out a sigh and aimed his wand at a goblet, filling it with water. "I'm not like you, Vex, or even Cy, for that matter, who who are good at things that are offensive."

Aurora shrugged and thought about what Vulpes said.  The same excuse.  "I'm more of a defensive caster, too.  If you're good at it, you don't need to be a good offensive fighter.  Like they say, a good offense is a good defense."

She didn't like the way he put himself down.  He was a lot more useful than he gave himself credit for.  "You think I'm a competitor, too?  The only reason I put my name in was to make Eric happy."  She looked around the hall at all the foreigners who came to Hogwarts for the tournament.  So what if someone wasn't great at something?  That didn't mean they shouldn't try.  "Besides, Vulpes, I think it's a good experience.  Regardless of how you think you'll do.  The Goblet specifically chooses someone to compete .  Someone who is worthy.  If the Goblet says you can do it, you can do it."

She didn't actually know if that was true, but she didn't think it was entirely random.  "And I believe you can do it." she said, looking pointedly at him seriously.  "You're smart.  One of the best problem-solvers I know.  You really should've been in Ravenclaw," she added, sighing softly before reaching over to touch his hand.  "You're more talented than you give yourself credit for.  And I'm not just saying this because I kind of like you.  If I didn't think you could do this, I wouldn't press you.  You're amazing."

"But you aren't purely defensive," Vulpes commented quietly. Which was true. Vulpes could perform about three jinxes well, the rest he was terrible at. Not that it really bothered him. The three he was good at could probably get him through life. Although it probably wouldn't be enough for an auror. But he didn't really expect to be capable of that anymore.

"I think you'd do better in a competition than I would..." he said carefully. She certainly wasn't competitive, strictly speaking but Vulpes still thought she was more so than he was. Which was why he thought she would do well in it if she were picked. She wouldn't be short on knowing defensive spells, that was for sure.

But he supposed she was right. About it being a good experience, at least. Not necessarily about whether or not he could do it. "Next time... maybe," he finally said. "I'll think about it." Although he wasn't even sure he would get the chance. Still, it was a significant change to his view.