Friday, early evening.


Fauna stood in front of the bulletin board just outside of the Great Hall, frowning. She held two posters in her hands - one for SAWS and one for the Art Club - and there was very, very little space to pin them up amongst the other announcements. As she was shifting other fliers to make room for her own, she noticed an old SAWS poster peeking out from behind a Slytherin's passive-aggressive plea for her housemates to stop stealing her eyeliner. Immediately thinking of Fir, Fauna stifled a giggle-snort, glanced furtively around, and ripped off the eyeliner announcement to reveal the old SAWS one.

Then she groaned. 'SAWS SUX' was scrawled across it, along with a lovely little cartoon showing Cupid flinging silver-tipped arrows at a ferocious werewolf. Someone was already in a festive Valentine's Day mood. Scowling, Fauna ripped off the old SAWS poster as well, crumpling it up with the eyeliner flier and letting it fall to the floor.

She carefully pinned up her new SAWS poster in the open spot, announcing the meeting that she had scheduled for the 28th to discuss the last Care of Magical Creatures lesson and work out a few plans for February. Then, without checking to see if any people were watching her this time, she slapped the Art Club poster on top of a Quidditch announcement and stepped back to admire her work.

The posters on the bulletin board blinked and flashed different colors, showed animated photos, and even sometimes shouted at passerby. It was reasonable to assume that Fauna might be overlooked next to such a bright display. But not today! Today she wore a frog hat (which she could have sworn had caused a first-year to squeak in fright earlier), a fuzzy black and white sweater that hung nearly to her knees, and stood with her hands on her hips, looking rather pleased with herself.

Callum hadn't been looking for Fauna, but when he saw her there was a familiar twinge of guilt. He'd been feeling it ever since the display in the great hall the previous week- whenever he had slapped that poster to her forehead. Callum had been raised better than that. You never hurt a girl- no matter what the circumstances were. Not only had he forgotten that, but he had let his temper get the best of him and nearly jeopardized his entire Hogwarts career.

Besides, as far as Hufflepuffs went, Fauna Blake wasn't too bad. She didn't run around the school on puppies and sunshine- she just had that stupid club... The one she was putting up posters for at the moment. But at least she annoyed Amherst. That had to be worth something.

He watched her for a few moments before deciding to approach. Callum cleared his throat quietly. "Fauna?" he began tentatively, waiting to gain her attention. "I know you're busy with your... posters... but do you have a few minutes?" God, this was difficult. Apologizing was awful. And it seemed to be all he had the time to do this past week. But if he got this one out of the way, all that Callum would have left was Trishna- then he'd be done with this whole modesty and humility mess he seemed to have been suckered into.

"Don't worry-" he offered, "I'm not here to pick a fight or to mess with your posters or lecture you about purity or how stupid feminism is or anything."

"Fauna?"

She heard the cleared throat and the greeting before she turned to see Callum standing there, so it shocked her that the quiet voice belonged to him. The look on his face seemed less righteous than usual. Automatically, however, Fauna's expression darkened, her shoulders hunched a little, and she stared at him suspiciously.

Yes, she had a few minutes. Whether she wanted to stick around was another story.

As she stayed silent, he went on, assuring her that he wasn't here to pick a fight. Fauna rolled her eyes, unable to imagine why else he'd stop to talk to her. This was the perfect opportunity for him to make some comment about SAWS or the Art Club. He was probably just trying to lure her into a false sense of security before he came out with the insults, like Kitty and Maeve would.

"Right," Fauna finally said, clearly skeptical. "So... you're not going to stick a poster over my face? Or tell me I'm inferior? Or tell me I'm spineless and stupid?"

Apparently, when faced with a reminder of how he'd acted towards her in the Great Hall, Fauna wasn't ready to let things go. He'd humiliated her, and it wasn't just the poster on her face, but the things he'd said. It had made her feel bad about things she could never change and had no control over. Girls could tease her about her outfits and hats all they wanted, but at the end of the day she still chose to wear them. Fauna couldn't just stop being muggleborn, a woman, a Hufflepuff, and all the other things he hated even if she wanted to.

And he'd done much worse to Fergie and Sasha - much worse over the years. No, she couldn't just smile at him and make whatever he needed to do easy.

"What do you want?" Fauna crossed her arms, looking grumpy and serious, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the smiling frog hat on her head.

The Slytherin was surprised at Fauna's response. Hufflepuffs certainly were inferior, spineless, and stupid for the most part. But it seemed that Fauna was still angry about what had happened, and wasn't at all afraid to let him know that. Callum knew that he deserved it, so he let her vent, keeping his eyes glued to hers as she spoke, not daring to back down (just yet).

Her serious look was indeed lessened by the frog, but Callum understood that he needed to take her seriously for this interaction to have any positive effect. For some reason apologizing to a fellow student was easier- especially one who was a female. Callum knew he had been wrong in this instance, so swallowing his pride (which he was doing far too much of recently) was easier.

"No, I'm not here to insult you," he repeated. "I wanted to apologize again for sticking that poster to your face. My... problems aren't with you. As far as Hufflepuffs go, you could be a lot worse." Not the best thing to say, but probably the closest thing to a compliment a Hufflepuff was able to get from Callum. "But regardless of the circumstances or my own personal beliefs- it was wrong of me to do that to you, Fauna." And he meant it. There was no doubting Callum's genuine tone and his softened body language.

"Although you might not expect, and nobody else seems to realize it, I do have a moral compass. Insulting and assaulting women goes against everything I was ever taught and believe. All women- pure, halfblood, muggle, rich, or poor- deserve a level of respect. It's cowardly and improper to treat them in any other way, and I was wrong. I just wanted to tell you that. I meant my apology- it wasn't for show, but I know it seemed that way."

Fauna was quiet for a long moment. Callum looked apologetic, sounded sincere, and was obviously trying to make amends, even if he could have left out the Hufflepuff comment. A part of her wanted to be a snot and tell him he should get half a gold star for acting like a decent human being towards half of the student population. She would have loved to stand there and say that respect was not a novel concept and his apology wouldn't cause her to fall at his feet all a flutter.

But she'd never been very good at putting her negative feelings into words, or getting those words to make sense. Instead of sounding snarky and funny, she'd just sound... petty. He would leave annoyed, and she would leave feeling dumb, and neither of them would get anywhere.

So Fauna sighed and gave a little shrug. "Thanks... I guess."

She looked at him, hesitating. "But... ok, I get that you're sorry towards me and... I do appreciate that." In most cases, she would apologize back, but she simply wasn't sorry for throwing out his posters and dropping him on his bum.

"But I mean, what you did to me wasn't even that bad... in comparison, you know?" And here was the part where she said things that didn't make sense. Fauna tried to keep the frustration out of her tone and went on. "I mean, 'cause the whole reason I felt like I had to stand up to you is because... you were singling out Sasha. And you have a right to feel like he... shouldn't be at school, but you've been sorta bullying him for years. Fergie too."

Though she wasn't sure exactly what she wanted him to say to that, Fauna went quiet, giving him a chance to talk. 

Callum was glad that she seemed to be okay with his apology instead of slapping him. He was accustomed to people getting angry and hitting him-girls had a bigger habit of it, since they knew he wouldn't hit them or hex them back. "I'm glad you let me tell you," he began- and then she moved on. Godric- why wouldn't she have just let him apologize and leave it at that?

But she was lecturing him! Who was she to tell him how to live his life? "I wasn't bullying anybody," Callum stated flatly. "I was letting the school know that they had a murderer in their midst. I think the students have a right to know what kind of people are at school- and they should be encouraged to ask questions. To ask why. If a student is capable of killing someone like that, and if he can get away with using dark spells against other students at school- then they need to know. This won't be the last we'll hear of Schlagenweit- I'm sure of it. And when stuff like this keeps happening, everyone will know that I was right." He sounded surprisingly conversational in his tone, though. He wasn't trying to pick a fight with her. It would nullify his apology- the last thing that he wanted.

The reason for bullying Fergie was different though. The two had actually been friends when they were younger. Callum didn't make it a habit to make enemies of his fellow housemates, after all. But then he'd foud out what Fergie was. Because Fergie had acted weird toward him. And Callum got it in his head that Fergie had a crush on him- and that just was not okay. He couldn't hang out with a guy and be friends with him if he had those kinds of feelings- especially when those feelings were aimed at himself. It was embarassing, and Callum disagreed with it. Boys and boys didn't go together. Neither did girls and girls. It was just wrong.

"Well, there's a lot to this that you don't know about, Fauna," he told her. "Besides- maybe they ought to stand up for themselves if they don't like it, hm? Instead of making someone else fight their battles." He'd almost slipped up and said "a girl" instead of "someone else", but he caught himself.

Fauna listened to Callum talk about Sasha without comment, even though she still felt that he was using the murderer story as an excuse to make his personal grudge a public crusade. Callum had a point about Sasha using dark magic against students, but she hadn't been there to see it. She just felt like the teasing, the bullying, what he was doing had to stop. Considering some of his comments in the Great Hall, she assumed that he bullied Sasha and Fergie because they didn't fit his image of how boys should act, and she assumed that she didn't fit his image of a proper girl, either. But that was nothing new. 

She leaned against the bulletin board and crossed her arms, subconsciously signaling her disagreement. When he suggested that maybe they ought to stand up for themselves, she bit her lower lip, considering that. Fauna used to be one of those students who had needed other people to defend her all the time, whether it was Inika refusing to give her her shoe back, Vienna challenging her in an empty classroom, or getting caught in the middle of a fight between Gavin and Kyle. She hadn't had the skills or confidence to stand up for herself. Though she was getting better, she could relate to feeling helpless.

"Well... it's not that simple, though. That might be easy for you to say, because... people don't just pick on you to pick on you, do they?" As far as Fauna knew, they didn't. "I mean, just because they're easy targets, doesn't make it right to go after them just because you can."

Her tone was quiet and thoughtful. She was attempting to talk to him as a person who would understand. Perhaps it wasn't any of her business, but he'd approached her first, and she had things to say.

Callum wasn't sure why Fauna kept... talking. That wasn't how things worked. He would apologize, she would graciously accept his apology, and then the two would carry on with their lives. This was the expected route of the day. What should not happen was Fauna lecturing him on his ethical code. Just because she might not understand the full scope of his moral compass did not mean that his moral compass did not exist. But explaining to her all the ins and outs of what he believed and why would be pointless. She wasn't raised the same way that he was,and women's brains worked differently- it was plain and simple.

"You can choose to be an easy target, or you can choose to be better than that," he told her with a shrug. "It would seem that they have chosen to be the easy targets. My father once told me that coddling a child or a person when they are younger does not prepare them for the real world. It simply causes them to be more apt to fail when faced with harsh reality."

"Amherst is doomed to be rejected by his family. To be written off, disowned, and ignored- and forced to go it on his own. I didn't always hate him, you know. We were friends when we were younger. But people change. And you do what you have to do for self preservation. Associating with the wrong people can ruin your future, Fauna."

He smoothed out his clothes then, taking a long moment to post. "Of course, I wouldn't expect you to understand. Pureblood society is far more complicated than most people assume. And I have no desire to get myself ousted from a lifestyle that I rather enjoy."

Fauna's mouth thinned and an irritated line appeared between her brows. It was getting harder and harder to continue this conversation civilly. He was trying, and she appreciated that to an extent. She just didn't feel that his apology to her was good enough, because if anything, he should be apologizing to Fergie, Sasha, and the prefects as well. Apologies also didn't mean much if he planned on continuing to bully the students he didn't like.

"You're right, I don't understand," she said curtly, shaking her head. Fauna would never be a pureblood, fit into the upper class, become especially wealthy, or follow a strict lifepath set out for her by her mum. Relating to Callum? She didn't know how. But she knew she didn't want to continue arguing with him right then.

"Can you just..." her voice faltered. "Can you just maybe... leave them alone for a few weeks? Just... try it and see how it goes?" Her expression turned into the puppy-dog-eyed look that she sometimes resorted to when she hoped someone would listen to her.

He didn't owe her anything, and he clearly didn't agree with her 'live and let live' philosophy. This was her last ditch effort to make some kind of impression on him, however. She had to ask.

"If you were more observant, you would have noticed that in the last few days I've been keeping to myself. I had a long discussion with my head of house. I've decided that it's not worth destroying my reputation and future- regardless of my level of distate and disagreement for how they decide to live their lives. i need to focus on my studies. OWLs aren't far away, and getting myself into troublebefore then wouldn't bode well for me. It doesn't behoove me any longer to torture the two of them. They do a fine job of torturing themselves, it seems."

Callum tried to tell himself that his explanation had nothing to do with the eyes that Fauna had given him. Even if she was a Hufflepuff, and even if he wasn't particularly fond of her- shew as still a lady. And a lady giving puppy eyes was difficult to resist no matter who she was. Callum decided, instead, to reassure himself he was just being polite- and it was only right to treat her with respect. Especially after he had been so rude.

"But it would behoove you, Fauna, to learn to keep your nose out of other people's business. I'd hate for you to cross someone less understanding than I am. Not everyone in Slytherin has morals. It would due you well to remember that." It wasn't a threat exactly- more a statement of fact. Callum wasn't as bad as some Slytherins. Sure, he was mean to Sasha and Fergie- but for the most part, Callum was civil to other people. Many of his housemates were nasty. His two brothers in his own house were particularly nasty. And dumb. A dangerous combination.

"I do appreciate you allowing me the chance to apologize, but I'm not going to apologize to Sasha or Fergie. I don't feel like the deserve one. And I know you are going to disagree with that fact. You should just be glad that you got yours. You're a Hufflepuff- optimism ought to be one of your strong points. Just think of it as proof that I've a heart."

Despite his self-important tone, Fauna caught onto one very important thing: he had decided to leave them be. That decision probably had nothing to do with her, or the look she gave him. It probably had everything to do with his Head of House, and Callum wanting to avoid suspension or worse.

But all Fauna heard was his agreement to play nice. Her face lit up for a few seconds before she nodded and pretended to pay attention to the rest of what he had to say. Something about most Slytherins lacking morals. Oh, she already knew that! Silly Callum. Fir, and sometimes Fergie, were the only Slytherins she actually liked.

He went on to tell her that he wasn't going to apologize to Fergie or Sasha, and that she should just be happy he'd apologized to her. And she was! But the real reason for her change in mood was the reassurance that he was going to focus on himself instead of antagonizing the students around him. She'd done it! She'd convinced him! Deserved or not, this was an ego boost for Fauna. She actually beamed at him as she gathered up her things, preparing to go to the Great Hall for a snack.

"Right! Optimism!" She looked like she'd had happy powder flung in her face. "Thanks for the apology, Callum. And I'll try to  keep my nose out of your business from now on."

It would be easy to since he wouldn't be bullying those boys anymore. "See you later!" Fauna waved cheerily at him, then turned and walked away, her frog hat flopping merrily on her head.

Callum scratched his head as he watched Fauna's face nearly explode with a smile. Exactly what he had done or said to produce such a reaction he wasn't sure. In fact, Callum wasn't sure that he really wanted to know. What mattered was that she seemed to be more than satisfied with his apology- which meant that Callum's conscience could rest easy for a while. That was all that mattered to the Slytherin.

"Glad to hear it," was all he said when Fauna assured him that she would be keeping her nose out of his business. That was good for her. Callum didn't want to have to make an enemy out of a girl. It was best to avoid that- unless it was a scorned lover, of course.Women were allowed to be angry then.

The Slytherin gave a half hearted wave when Fauna scampered off. He rearranged his things before heading on his own way- which was not the direction that the older Hufflepuff girl was going. Callum didn't need to hear her having girly fits over the fact that he had apologized. It might make him angry- and if he shot off with his mouth then it would completely nullify the apology.