Lunch time, on this occasion, had been very welcome for Pax. He had spent almost all morning in the library, revising for Monday's History of Magic exam, and trying to keep all the names, dates, and other facts straight was starting to give him a bit of a headache. Even leaving the library with the intention of heading towards the Great Hall to give his brain a rest and find whatever vegetarian dishes were on offer from the house elves today, he still found himself muttering historical facts to himself. 'Achilles, Persephone and-- shoot. Who was the other one?' He knew it wasn't good for him to overthink all this and risk burning out, but his nerves were getting the better of him.

And speaking of nerves, and things that weren't good for him; Pax looked up to see where he was going, and balked a little. Tynan MacFusty was a little ways along the corridor. As a rule, Pax generally liked Tynan, as indeed he generally liked most people. But he didn't like the way he treated Eirene, and had in fact managed to spend the best part of a month covertly avoiding Tynan after the Gryffindor had gone one insult too far for Pax, and Pax had actually stood up for Eirene for a change. In class, no less. It wasn't that Pax regretted it; both Eirene and Noriko had seemed to appreciate the gesture, after all, and that alone made it worth it for him. But Pax had never been sure where he stood with Tynan, and after raising his voice to the other boy, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Tynan wasn't particularly known for peaceful resolutions.

He stood frozen for a moment, much like a rabbit in the headlights, trying to figure the best course of action. Duck out of sight? But that seemed childish, and besides, if Tynan saw him flee, he might twig that Pax was avoiding him. Pax may have been a bit scared of Tynan, but that didn't mean he wanted him to feel bad or anything. Just pretend like you haven't seen him. He probably won't even notice you, he decided after a couple seconds' thought. Keeping his gaze fixed on the far end of the corridor in what he hoped was a casual manner (it wasn't), he walked briskly down the hall, both hands gripping the straps of his backpack so that he wouldn't be tempted to fidget.

Tynan had not been avoiding Pax, but he hadn't gone out of his way to find the boy, either. But Pax's denouncement of him in class was eating at Tynan. Not because it was right or because it was wrong; but because he couldn't explain it, not then. The idea the Hufflepuff had the wrong idea was more important to Tynan than what the boy thought of him afterwards.

Tynan's reasons made perfect sense, of course; but probably only to him. He'd been mulling them over for weeks, usually during classes when he'd seen Pax. But with studying, his tutoring sessions and now the exams, he hadn't had time to hunt the other boy down.

That was why, when he saw Pax's curly head heading his way, he jumped on the opportunity. It was almost automatic; as Pax tried to pass him in the hall, one of Tynan's large hands shot out, grabbing Pax by the arm in a grip that wasn't painful...but also was clearly not going to go anywhere.

"We need 'tae talk," Tynan said, looking down at Pax with was was probably a more intimidating look than he'd intended it to be; he was just trying to study Pax's face, but intense scrutiny was rarely welcome. Especially when Tynan made no effort to hide his annoyance at Pax's jittery nature.

He didn't wait for a reply; he dragged the small boy out of the crowded hallway and down an empty side passage, ended with a locked door and nothing else. He let go of Pax's arm with a shove, nearly sending the boy into the wall. Than he stood with his arms crossed, blocking Pax's only route of escape.

"Think I'm a hypocrete now, do ye?" He asked, his mispronouncing of the word utterly lost on him.

Pax was now rethinking his whole 'pretend you didn't see him' plan, not that it was going to do much good at this point. Now the plan was more along the lines of 'don't get into a fight'. The glare Tynan gave him (or at least what Pax perceived as a glare) served as proof that he'd probably had the right idea in not being in the same place as Tynan outside of class. He couldn't remember ever being more acutely aware of how much taller the Gryffindor was than him, or, for that matter, how much stronger. Pax had been used to being picked on in primary school, but for the most part hadn't got involved in physical fights, and every weedy inch of him looked it. So when Tynan forcibly shoved him down one of the side corridors, he was visibly frightened.

'H-hypocrite?' he stammered. 'I don't know what--' He stopped mid-sentence. Denial, really? That's got to be the worst idea you've had all year. Pushing a few stray curls back from his face distractedly, he sighed, trying to figure out the best way to respond. As per usual, his nerves didn't let him get too far before his mouth started running away from his brain. 'L-look, Tynan, I'm sorry I-- I mean I never meant to, you know, shout, I just meant--'

He exhaled again, more harshly this time. Why was he automatically going on the defensive? Tynan had been more in the wrong! He'd even hit Erik, for Merlin's sake! So, he drew himself up to his full (entirely underwhelming) height, and very nearly brought himself to look Tynan in the eye. (The effect was rather undermined by the fact that he was still quivering.) 'You called Eirene-- you called my friend a-- a bint,' he said, lowering his voice on the last word. He knew his parents wouldn't approve of him using language like that. 'And I, um, I don't know if it means something different on that island where you grew up, but for the rest of us, it's, it's not a nice word, okay? And, I just-- just--' Why was it so hard to formulate coherent thoughts? 'Why-- just-- why isn't it okay for Erik to be mean about Noriko, but you turn around and you're just as mean to Eirene?'

Tynan just glared at Pax impassively as the smaller boy stuttered through what was more or less a repeat of his accusations from a month before. That was handy. Tynan had been afraid he wasn't remember it right, and that Pax, who was better with words, could twist them. He opened his mouth as Pax stopped, raising one hand to signal the other boy's silence.

"Yer friend looks down on mine," he said, tone level and matter of fact. It was somewhat subconscious, but the boy's nervousness made it so easy to keep himself in control of the situation. He was taller, stronger, his voice was deeper even before the onset of manhood; he felt like one punch would send Pax down, and it probably would have. "Your friend thinks she's better n' me and my friends because she has money an' shines her shoes and we don't. She also started it," he added, because in Tynan's view this was of great importance. "An' she invites it."

He recrossed his arms. "Noriko doesn't invite it and doesn't deserve tae get put down. Erik is tae too stupid tae know that -" His expression flickered for a moment, "But I dinnae pick on her, because I dinnae pick on the helpless an' undeserving. I pick on Eirene because she looks down on Mairead and Mairead is my friend. Ye ken?"

Pax's posture went slack again; he had the unnerving feeling of being in over his head. He didn't understand entirely why his friends always seemed to be at odds with Tynan's, and he didn't like not understanding. People were fundamentally good, or he'd always wanted to believe so, but Merlin, they could be so difficult sometimes. 'Eirene and Mairead-- they just-- they rub each other up the wrong way,' he tried to rationalise. 'They have, very um... strong personalities. Very different personalities. So they don't get along, and they-- get at each other sometimes, and...' Even thinking about it was making his face fall. 'I wish they didn't.'

There was something else Tynan had said that set him ill at ease. Pax cared a lot about Eirene, and didn't want to think badly of her in the slightest. But there was this horrible, nagging feeling that surfaced sometimes, that reminded him that his friend's upbringing seemed to him to have been rather privileged, maybe even traditionalist. Eirene couldn't help how she was raised, but what if it did play into her conflict with Mairead and the others, as Tynan seemed to think? He wanted to think that had nothing to do with it, that it was solely a personality clash, that Tynan was perceiving something that wasn't really there. But the part of him that spoke with his grandfather's voice was insisting he be impartial, learn both sides of the story. 'What do you mean, Eirene started it?' he asked in a very quiet voice.

Tynan narrowed his eye. Personality clash, yes, that certainly made sense. He'd admit that much. He watched Pax's face fall and shook his head.

"She was showin' off and being...Eirene." He wasn't exactly the most descriptive boy; Eirene, said with emphasis, was clearly a slang term for fussy. Stuck up. Show off, smart arse, nosy...all the things that bottled together with plucky ambition made Eirene so...well, Eirene. Fykie.

"They were saying...the M word." Tynan himself was certainly not completely comfortable with it; every time he said it in a fit of solidarity he expected his mother to Appriate in and smack him for using that word. "But she called Mairead dirty. Said she acted like a boy and couldn't afford nice shoes. And she said that to insult her."

Tynan was not going to think that his version wasn't accurate; of course it was, it was the one he'd heard several times from Mairead and Keegan. In a broad sense, this was a good thing; had he witnessed what had actually happened in the wand store, he might have taken Eirene's side.

That didn't mean she wasn't bloody annoying.

"She's a stuck up princessy twit," he said, simply. "She's not Euphie, though," he added, almost thoughtfully. That, coming from Tynan, was praise.

'Saying the M word?' Pax mumbled, looking distinctly uncomfortable. He simply couldn't understand why anyone at school would do that, least of all those who were themselves muggleborn. 'Wait-- wait!' That sounded familiar, something Eirene had mentioned to him before. 'Are you talking about what happened in Ollivander's?' He leaned against the wall, squashing his backpack a little in the process, looking deflated. 'Because that's not how Eirene tells it.' He wasn't in much of a mood for sharing Eirene's version of events; he realised dully that there was no way of knowing exactly what happened, and arguing about it wasn't going to change the ways things were now. There was, Pax thought, a fairly simple reason for that. Tynan, Mairead, and Keegan were one way, and Eirene...

'It's just how she is,' he said plainly, crossing his arms and staring at the wall opposite. It was easier not to feel nervous, apparently, when he wasn't looking at Tynan, or more specifically, Tynan's impressive scowl. 'Not a-- a princessy brat or whatever, but just, you know... Eirene.' Contrasted with the way Tynan said her name as though it was a negative descriptor, Pax couldn't keep that trace of fondness out of his voice when he said it. 'You don't like the way she is, and okay, fair enough, I guess. But how is picking on her going to help? It won't-- it won't like, make her "better" or anything. It'll probably make her worse.' Somewhere along the way, Pax's gaze had slipped down and was now resting on the floor. There wasn't anything remotely 'telling-off'-ish about the way he was speaking to Tynan now. He was too subdued; it sounded more like he was thinking out loud.

Tynan's expression remained skeptical. "Sayin' it's just someone's nature dinnae make it okay," he said, darkly. "It was in You-Know-Who's nature tae be evil but that wasn't an excuse." Admittedly, comparing the two wasn't exactly fair. Voldemort probably had some good points.

Still, as Pax spoke, Tynan lightened a bit, his countenance becoming gradually less threatening.

"What would improve her, then?" He asked, though the question was still sharp in tone and in delivery. "She doesn't listen tae anyone but herself, Wintergreen. She only hears what she wants tae hear. Besides," he added, hands finding his hips and planting there firmly, "She hasn't changed a bit since September. And if ye compliment her she gets worse."

He leaned back a bit, moving away from Pax; unconsciously giving the boy more space. "Still," he said, head cocked to the side slightly. "That was good, what ye did. Speakin' up for her. I'd have respected ye less if ye hadn't."

Pax looked back at Tynan, a little surprised, but tentatively smiling. 'Really?' He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. 'I figured you might be mad or something... But I would've respected me less if I hadn't, too...' It hadn't really been what Tynan had said or done on that one occasion that had made Pax actually speak up for a change. It had been the culmination of him, Mairead, Keegan, and whoever else gave Eirene a hard time over the school year, and Pax being too timid to want to call anyone out on it. But Eirene and Noriko being upset made him upset in turn, so sooner or later, something had to give.

'And I-- I know Eirene's not perfect.' He folded his arms to keep himself from fidgetting. Even if Pax found Eirene's fussiness and competitive nature endearing rather than annoying, he couldn't deny that she did have her faults. 'But, y'know, neither am I, and neither are you, and neither is anyone. And you're wrong that she hasn't changed. I mean, maybe it's difficult to tell, I guess, if you don't know her very well, but, if you did...' Wait, where was he going with this again? He sighed again at his inability to accurately convey his opinions.

'She's a good friend. And I guess that probably doesn't mean much to you, 'cause she's not your friend after all, but it means a lot to me that she listens to me and is happy for me when I do well, and... Y'know. Friend stuff.' Pax emphasised the word friend for his own benefit rather than Tynan's. He had to remind himself he was talking about Eirene platonically. Best to change the track of the conversation before he let something slip.

'So yeah. I mean, um, I think that's the kind of thing that improves people. Making friends. Thinking about other people. Before Hogwarts, it's like Eirene was only friends with Effie. So, I-- I do think she's grown, as a person.' Pax winced a little at the cliche; Tynan was bound to be umimpressed by that. He hurried on, 'That's what school's for, right? I mean, um, not just learning about magic, but learning how to be a better person. Well, that's what my uncle always told me, anyway.'

Tynan shrugged, the gesture emphasizing his confusion with Pax more than any sense of relaxation. "Why would I be angry?" He asked. "It was the correct thing tae do. Of course," he added, with a much more obvious switch to skepticism, "The proper thing tae do would have been to punch me, not make a speech." Which summed up Tynan's confusion much better than he realized. Why say with lengthy speeches what could be said much more elegantly with a punch? It wasn't like his brothers ever sat him down to talk things out and he knew exactly what they were angry about - and vice versa. "S'only annoyed me because ye didn't get there's a difference between someone who annoys ye and someone who hasn't done ye nae harm."

The skepticism didn't exactly vanish at Pax's hesitant explanation. Tynan watched him blankly. He had a sense there was more to this than he'd realized, but it was frankly None of His Business what Eirene and Pax got up to on their own time. And even then, he didn't really want to know.

"If ye say so," he said finally. "If she's changed since the beginning of  this year she hides it well," he added, arms falling to his sides. The comment about school, though, was evidently not something he agreed with, as he blankly said, "School's not what changes ye. That's life that does that."

'Well yeah, and school's part of life,' Pax replied with a small, timid smile. 'You know, all the meeting people and making friends and having problems that wouldn't happen the same way if we just got taught magic by our parents.' He shrugged, feeling he was losing Tynan a little, if they were ever on the same page to begin with. Pax never really interacted with his classmate enough to really grasp how different the two of them were; the way they saw things, thought about things, just didn't seem to be  even slightly the same.

He pushed himself away from the wall, and turned to face Tynan properly. 'I'm not going to try and force you to believe anything about Eirene,' he tried to explain. Years, short though they were, of impartiality had taught him that the best he could do was just see both sides of the situation without too much bias. 'You don't like her, fine. But I do, okay? And if you not liking her means you're going to keep being mean to her, just because you think she deserves it...' Pax felt like he should be leading somewhere with this. But someone of his stature and disposition just didn't lend himself well to being any kind of threatening.

'Well, we're, we're, just not going to get along very well, I guess,' he ended weakly. But while Pax couldn't do intimidating, there was one thing he could do very well, and that was being fair. And fairness didn't always boil down to loyalty alone, so he went on, with a bit more conviction this time,  'And um, and not just 'cause Eirene's my friend. 'Cause it's not right to pick on people. If you were ever on the other end of it, you'd understand why.' He tried once again to look Tynan in the eye, but didn't quite manage it. Nor did he quite shake the look of a boy who was somewhat afraid of getting punched.