Silvia looked as though she'd just swallowed a toad.  Of course, she often looked like that--she was naturally pale and sickly looking, with a sneer to curdle milk--but today more so than usual.  Technically this was her fault, through it would take a crowbar and a half to make her admit it.

She'd fallen asleep after classes yesterday and worked all night to finish her homework, coming down to breakfast looking as haggard as a drunk and only realizing it was Saturday once she'd tried going down to the potions classroom and sat around for twenty minutes waiting to be let in.  So, to say the least, her day wasn't going as smoothly as she'd have liked, and the last thing she wanted to do was set foot outside.  Yet here she was, determined to practice flying, even though she was up to her ankles in field and kept flinching at the flies that buzzed up around her face.  Silvia was not an outdoorsy sort.  In fact, she was an indoorsy sort, to the point where she didn't even like open windows.

Placing a hand over her her broom, she didn't bother with the command; just demanding it get her out of this filthy meadow usually did it.  Today however, the broom barely twitched.  Glaring at it, her broom began to roll around. 

"Up!" she snarled.  It gave a half-hearted hop.  "Up!"

"Up!" she shouted, and up it came, hitting her squarely between the eyes before falling to the ground again.  Silvia howled in pain and frustration, looking quite ridiculous as she danced awkwardly on the grass.

Lucy had had a good Saturday so far. She rolled out of bed early, wrote a little, had a banana for breakfast, and then departed onto the green for some good old tree climbing and watching folks. Lucy loved to do this, her braids tied tightly on her little head. Her graphic tee and jeans screaming the message, "I don't care". She climbed high into a tree, a place where she was concealed, and yet could watch. To watch, but not to be watched. That was her favorite.

So, she quietly sat, observing all the other students. Some walking romantically, others playing ball, and one in particular, trying to raise her broom. At this, Lucy watched closely. There was no way this day would go well for her, and Lucy couldn't wait to see her fail. Yes, it was terrible for her to say, but it was true. There was never anything better than watching someone fail.

And speak of the devil, the girl below was getting frustrated. The broom wasn't responding to her, and Lucy couldn't be happier. She smiled, as the girl got madder. She shouted, as the broom jumped, smacking her in the face. Lucy started laughing out loud, falling from the limb she was sitting on, and grabbing on to the lowest one, where she was hanging about a foot from the ground.

Lucy was still laughing, and let go, before lying on the ground, laughing as hard as she could. Almost rolling around. How embarrassing! She thought, before standing back up, and wiping tears away.

Silvia swung around like a bull, face radiating heat in the chilly morning air.  As she strode towards the laughing girl, her embarrassment translated easily to fury.  It was not in Silvia's nature to feel embarrassed, whereas rage came to her, not as second-nature, but as first.  She stopped just short of treading on the incumbent Gryffindor, sneering down at her as if where something she'd found on the bottom of her shoe, not worth the anger she could feel swelling up inside of her, making her head big until she was sure she'd pop. 

"Oh, did the monkey fall out of her tree?" she cooed, a dangerous edge beneath the exaggerated sweetness, like a razor in a lemon drop.  "Hit your head on a rock, monkey, or were you dropped on your head as a baby?"  The razor's edge came out sharp and jagged in the second part of the sentence, cutting her tongue.  The metal-taste filled her mouth, tasting of hatred.

Lucy stopped laughing. This girl fought back; something rare that she always loved to see. "Oh, aren't you funny. Of course that's coming from the girl who just got smacked in the face with her own broom." She fired back, a cocky smile on her face. She crossed her arms, and began pacing. "You got laughed at. You feel threatened. So you fight back. Shocker!" She scoffed.

"But let's be honest. I bet your face hurts pretty bad now, doesn't it? The broom hit it pretty hard." She shrugged her shoulders. "I was hoping it'd make you prettier, but we can't have all our wishes, now can we?" She asked, the smile still sitting on her face. "Now, don't get me wrong! I would be embarrassed too if my broom hit my face and forced me to dance like an idiot. Except of course, I would be better at hiding it." She smiled a smile that screamed, Give me your best shot.

Silvia gaped.  This was not the usual response to her jabs.  Her fury abated briefly in the face of bafflement, then surged again.  Not about the beauty comments; Silvia's pride of appearance was untouchable, an heirloom rather than a personal vanity, and something that her grandfather had confirmed.  To Silvia, grandfather Goyle's word was not just law, but a law of nature.  It was as if the tree-dwelling pest were saying the sky was green: it obviously wasn't, and the monkey was obviously mad, or worse, just plain silly.  No, it was the idea that this girl thought she was anything less than brilliant on a broomstick that stoked Silvia into a red-hot rage.

It was only a second of hesitation; a brief flicker in the facade and it was gone.  The sneer returned as though it had never left, her thin lips curling cruelly.

"And if I were a monkey-girl who spent her time hooting in the treetops, I would be embarrassed." she replied haughtily, color fading from her face even as her fists itched.  "But I'm not.  If you weren't so busy aping the art of a psychologist, maybe you'd figure out I'm just trying to squash the lice infection before you go spreading it around."  Silvia made a show of looking the girl up and down, wrinkling her nose at the dirt and a leaf that had caught in her hair.  "Of course, maybe I should just leave that to Nagde.  Or Hagrid."

She wanted to play this game, huh? Well. Two could play. "Good one. Nice. No, really, go ahead talking about lice. The thing is, my popularity isn't important to me, as it is to you. Which, I'm guessing, that you are more concerned with it." She smiled. "Honestly, that can't be the best you can do! I mean, that was just so sad!" She mocked.

Lucy left the leaf in her hair, as she thought that maybe it would make Silvia a little angrier. She honestly didn't care. Really, she just wanted to see how far she could push Silvia until she pushed back hard.

Silvia watched for a reaction like a snake eyeing a large mouse, wondering whether it was really worth the indigestion.  She couldn't read this girl--there was something hopelessly blunt about her and her reactions gave little away.  Tugging at a strand of hair beneath her ear, her sneer turned petulant. 

"You should know.  I mean, when people cast 'Dictio:[1] sad' I'm sure your face just pops right up." she snarled, dark eyes gleaming with the cruel sport.  There was a sound like a dog choking on a squeaky toy; Silvia was laughing.  "Though I think 'sad' is a little generous.  You really strike me as more of a 'pathetic,' don't you agree?"[2]

As she spoke, she seemed to loom.  If anybody were paying attention, they may have realized that she was standing on her tippy-toes.[3]

1.	I figure wizards don't bother with dictionaries.
2.	Hint: if you're looking for someplace to bite, there's a lot of rumors going around about Silvia's family.  Her cousin and uncle are in Askaban, her mother is reportedly insane, and her grandfather is a cross between a has-been duke and  last year's mob boss.  Start there.   Or just make fun of Silvia's laugh.  Either way.
3.	Or this.  You can make fun of this too.

Lucy smiled a vicious smile. "Hey, at least I don't cackle like a chew toy," She shot back. "And also, I'm short, but you're a little shorter. Not that your ego is small." She said. Lucy awaited her reply. She loved this girl. She'd fight back. And Lucy admired that. Lucy really wanted to befriend this girl, but she'd probably not want to be friends. So, enemies worked as well.

Lucy liked enemies. No. She loved enemies. It gave her something to do.

Silvia's smirk froze on her face and she sank down from her tippy-toes, slowly, as if trying to control herself.  Her fingers curled around the carved and twisting handle of her wand, kept hidden inside her robes.  Listening to the blood in her ears, her nostrils flared as the blood made its way to her cheeks once more. 

"I'm.  Not short."  Each word took effort, because what Silvia really wanted to do was jump the twit.  She stretched her left, unoccupied hand so that the knuckles cracked, then bunched it into a fist again.  "Obviously.  The problem is that you . . ." she smiled tightly, wand twitching.  "Are too tall."

What had her grandmaman said?  Keep cool, keep your wits.  The Argent women are known for their poise and their dignity.  We do not start duels; we finish them.

"I know a hex that can fix that right up."

Of course, her grandfather had something else to say on the matter: Is your name Argent or Goyle?  To hell with dignity--if you win, you can have all the dignity you want![1]

1.

Sorry it took me so long--I've been getting ready for college, which apparently involves being very busy seeing all your friends off and dealing with a massive writer's block.  Hopefully that's done with, but I'm about to actually move in myself, so things are about to go to pieces again.  I'm really sorry, but if you could just be patient I'll post as often as I can!

Lucy crossed her arms, smirking. "I'm too tall? Have you seen that Noah kid? Clearly not." She said. Lucy had a habit of making fun of others when picking on someone else. It was just what she always had done. Lucy watched as Silvia streched her hand into a fist, and understood the body language.

This girl was way to magical to get into a fight with her. But a duel, a duel was possible. However, Lucy knew that she was terrible at wand waving, and didn't want it to resort to that. Sure, she was itching for a fight, but hopefully just to a point where Silvia would run off crying.

"Look. You seem to have a lot of bark but no bite, so, I don't feel like wasting my time on a short-stop like you." She said. Lucy turned her back on the girl, and began to walk away slowly, waiting for retaliation. "I'd hate to have to waste your time when it could be used for worrying about that uncle and cousin in Azkaban."[1]

1.	Hey, no problem! I started school and it's been driving me up the wall. Sorry if posts take a couple days!

Silvia felt heat roll through her body in a wave of anger and adrenaline.  No thought, just a brief explosion of automatic commands.  Though she had a 'fight or flight' response just like any other creature, Silvia had, by gentle accumulation of pride and ignorance, managed to strike the second option from her list.  It was not that she was dumb--if you asked her whether she would try to fight an avalanche, she would probably take it as an insult and attack you.  But faced with an actual avalanche, she'd never need a coffin.  They'd bury her between two planks and wonder what kind of idiot challenges a mountain to a duel.

Eyes flashing, her wand went up.

"Expilliarmus!"  She didn't wait to see whether this had worked, never bothered drawing breath.  Locomoter wibbly![1]

1.	The jelly-legs jinx.

Lucy crumpled, her legs now fluid like jelly. Not like a liquid, they just acted that way. Lucy's wand flew out of her pocket flying over near  Silvia. "Hey!" she called. "Give me my wand!" Lucy stretched her hands out, trying to grasp her wand. It was right out of her reach. Lucy stretched some more. She shot a glare at Silvia. "Really!" she said.

"You know, you aren't really that smart! That wasn't even a good spell!" she yelled, still trying to attack Silvia with her words. "I expected something better coming from someone as prim and as dignified as you try to make yourself seem!"

These insults struck Silvia with more force than anything Lucy had managed so far.  Usually a simple jelly-legs hex was enough to evoke frightened silence from her victims, or at least panicked cussing.  This reaction was so far beyond the norm that it unnerved the bully, and Silvia's range of emotions did not really cover 'unnerved' so it settled for 'furious.'

Striding over the grass, she snatched the other girl's wand up, gave it a cursory look and threw it as far as she could in the direction of the lake.  It disappeared into the tall grass--a simple Accio would be enough to retrieve it, but you couldn't cast Accio with a wand that had disappeared into the tall grass.  Grimly satisfied with this small vengeance, she gripped her own wand more tightly as she paced over to where Lucy still wriggled and writhed.

"Oh, so you want dignity?" she snarled, keeping an intelligent distance between herself and her enemy, despite the urge she had to kick the girl, hard, in the ribs.  "I wouldn't speak of dignity just now, little monkey.  You haven't got much left, and I've got some very interesting ideas as to how to relieve you of it."[1]

1.	Sorry it's been so long!  Hopefully you're still interested in finishing this up?  I was thinking of advertising for a faculty member or prefect to come break this up, unless Lucy's got a better idea.

"Oh ho ho, you think you are so awesome, don't you?" She shot back. "Don't you know you can't take a Gryffindor's dignity away?" Sure, the little monkey comments were beginning to get to her, but she wasn't going to let that show. "Look. Do your worst. Because trust me, there isn't much you can do that could possibly prove to me that you are nothing but a poser."

Yes, she was down on the count right now. Sure, she couldn't move. Yup, she was unarmed. But none of that mattered right now. Right now it was just about keeping her temper, not letting the girl get to her, and proving to the girl that she was not a force to be reckoned with.[1]

1.	Oh I am totally still interested! I think having a staff member intervene would be a good ending. I'll shoot up a post on the I Need You thread in plot development!

Had this been his educational years, Sissel would have died from embarrassment from what he was doing. However, being an adult brought responsibilities and though strange and eccentric, even for the magical world, it was a relatively low cost solution that smoothed over the issue.

After roundabout consultation with transfigatory, cyrptozoological and behavioral members of staff, the idea to help Layton with transformation paralysis with his top hat form led to walks for the little white rabbit.

On a leash. With Sissel at the under end behind his mirrored sunglasses that proclaimed yes, he was cool with it. All in the name of exercise. The main excuse for the leash was in case of predator attacks.

It actually was kind of nice, getting out of doors from the castle although Sissel would preferably do this mounting tricks with his levitating doormat. Up until getting along the edge of the grounds, getting close to the lake, where two students were having a squabble.

"Howdy girls," Sissel said, not in the usual friendliness he presented in History lessons. "Lucy, Silvia, care to explain what's going on or do I wait to issue detentions after you wrangle each other by the throat?"