Elise watched in incredulity like she always did as one of the girls a year older than her smiled and fluttered her lashes in the direction of the Marauders - or, more specifically, Sirius. Why they found him attractive was beyond her. He was uglier than a…well, not ivery/i good-looking…sod that. She turned away, eyeing her plate of food in slight disgust. He was sexy and she couldn't deny it. Who could? Three quarters of the girls in school would have waited at his beck and call just for one of his smiles (the other quarter were either oblivious to the world or already had a significant other that they were enamored of).
Elise seemed to be one of the few that saw the light on the subject of his personality, though. Sure, his swagger was enough to capture the eyes of the school, his smirk seemingly able to capture their hearts as well. However, why couldn't they ever see that he wasn't all wonderful? It was plain enough from the day he first asked a girl out, dumping her in the next ten minutes for a prettier face, that he wasn't the type that would ever have a long-lasting relationship, much less a meaningful one. It was plain that he only wanted a good shag, preferably with the prettiest faces.
Jabbing a fork in her mashed potatoes before pushing her plate away, Elise stood up. The girl, a seventh year she now identified as Donna, was making a fool out of herself by crunching herself next to Sirius, who's hand was precariously close to her backside for comfort (and for that matter, eating as well). By the way Donna was giggling and winking at him in a decidedly suggestive manner Elise figured she'd be best off avoiding opening any broom closets for the next few hours. It'd most likely save her quite a lot of visual scarring.
Stalking out into the corridor in a very irritable manner, she swung her book bag over her shoulder. It wasn't as if she iwanted/i to see the same sodding display every morning before she went to classes. It put her in a not-so-lovely mood for the first class of the day, thus transferring to her assignments for the class which were generally slathered in snide pennings and crude characterizations that looked oddly like Sirius and whichever big-boobed wonder he was currently with. It was a wonder she managed to scrape A's at all with what the Professor had to read through.
"Elise! Finished early again?" A much-too-cheerful male voice caught Elise by slight surprise and she turned to face them. It was Russell, a half grin adorning his face as he jogged to catch up with her.
"Honest, Russ," she said grumpily, turning away from the dark-haired Hufflepuff and continuing to walk toward the Defense classroom. "If it would've been anyone but you they would've already been pined to the wall by my elbows. That's where you'll be too if you don't get that rotten igrin/i off your face."
Russell edged away from her side where he'd been walking, eyeing her elbows warily as the smile slid off his face. "In a rotten mood I suppose. Saw Sirius' newest embellishment?"
Elise picked up her pace and glared straight ahead, not bothering to answer. She didn't need to be reminded of the sight she'd seen, not when she was already in a mood about it. The morning hadn't started off good in the dormitory either, the girls had been arguing about the merits of push-up bras. It wasn't the loveliest thing to wake up to, and the snuggle-session at the table had put the icing on the cake.
"…s'there every morning, you oughta be used to it by now," Russell finished in an irritatingly iI-know-I'm-right/i voice, his eyes still trained on her elbows. "And the bloke can't help it. He's obviously got a disorder."
Elise snorted at the statement, a small smile appearing before fluttering away. "He must. Don't care though, I still don't like seeing him and whichever girl he's hooked that morning nearly snog." She glanced over at him, raising her eyebrows. "I heard he skips first class nearly every second day. I wonder what for," she asked in a wryly suggestive tone of voice. Not that she honestly wanted to think about it, but she couldn't help wonder how many broom closets had been idirtied/i in his early-morning antics.
Russell blanched visibly, staring at Elise as if she were crazy. "You terrible woman, making me think about that!" He scrubbed at his eyes in a comical manner as if trying to get the image out of them before grinning at her. "I'm willing to bet he's in the one on the fourth floor."
Elise made an attempt to jab him with her elbow that was dodged easily. "You're as bad as I am," she groaned in an irritable tone of voice, though she was just barely holding back a grin. "Next thing I know you'll be trying to get me to go up there with you and check it."
Russell choked slightly as she said the last statement. "Bloody insane! You can go look if you want, I'm not willing to go blind this early in life. That—"
"I go in here," Elise interrupted Russel before he could start ranting on about the horrors of the sight he might see, giving him another jab to the arm. "Be good in your next class, don't go running off looking for trouble. Or broom closets, for that matter," she added almost as an afterthought before pulling the door to the classroom open and stepping inside, leaving Russ standing outside of it looking flabbergasted.
Class, as she had surmised, was turning out to not be the best of things for her early-morning tendencies. Professor Thornward had started by chirpily announcing that they were in for a surprise quiz. Elise let out a groan. Surprise quizzes boded no good as she kept her studying to a minimum, preferring to scrape her way by with memory. It was easier that way, albeit slightly more stressful.
"Would you all please find a piece of parchment and write your name on it?" she asked, the tone of her voice belying the fact that she'd asked a question. Clearly they weren't allowed to say 'no, please' in this situation. "The questions," she waved her wand, the questions immediately appearing on the chalkboard behind her in scripted white writing, "are here. Ready, begin!"
Elise had just managed to pull out her ink bottle and quill as the Professor had gone through the motions to indicate that they should start. Surprise quizzes indeed. Oh, how she loathed them! Eyeing the first question (i'What is one of the magical creatures spends its day in recluse but hunts by night?'/i) she frowned. There was something vaguely familiar about it. Perhaps they'd been lectured on it sometime in the past week. iIf you're so desperate to know, why don't you look over your notes?/i she scrawled on the answer blank after a moment more of thinking. Her grade was high enough that even if she did fail the surprise quiz she'd still have an A.
The rest of the quiz was filled with various impertinent answers. Elise paused before she stood up to turn it in, glancing them over, her bad mood rapidly dissolving. Ah, the wonders of surprise quizzes! If she could only take one every time she was in a strop she'd be set for life. After all, people of influence idid/i seem to have a fetish for garish smiles and attitudes bright enough to light a fire.
He pile of papers on Professor Thornward's desk was growing visibly higher by the second as the papers piled on. As Elise set her own on the top of the teetering stack even she had to admit that it seemed as if there as an overabundance of parchment. The Professor stood up as the last paper was set on, eyeing drifting to it with a look of bafflement before snapping back to the class. "I'm sure you all did brilliant on your quizzes," she said, her voice its nauseatingly cheery self again. "For the rest of class you're to take twelve inches of notes on this." Taking the place of the questions for the surprise quiz was a chalkboard horrifyingly crowded with words. "You may begin."
Elise cocked an eyebrow at her Professor's inane cheerful attitude. It almost seemed as if she were mocking the class for having to do whatever she found useful to thrust on them. Quickly pulling out a sheet of parchment, she arranged it on her desk so it looked as though she were taking notes before turning back to stare at the Professors bobbing head as she read through one of the quizzes. It was soon marked full of red, enough so that Elise found herself wondering for the first time if she was putting them all on with her chirpiness. The fact that she seemed to be—craning her head slightly forward, she squinted. Was she? It certainly looked as though she were smirking as she marked a second paper full of red circles and bold check marks.
The head immediately snapped up and Elise jerked upward. Apparently Professor Thornward had felt her staring at her head. "Miss White, I don't see you taking notes. I'd advise you to start doing so immediately." Elise, turning a pale shade of red, nodded sharply before dipping her quill into the ink. The Professor had eyes in the top of her head, there was no other explanation for it. iDonna and Sirius, sitting in a tree. SHAGGIN/i She frowned. That didn't work out, there were too many letters. iSNOGGIN/i That didn't work either, and kissing was much to soft a term for what she was sure was going on between the player and the arse-pinching Donna.
There was a sudden low rumble as many pairs of feet hit the floor. Elise jerked up for the second time that class period. It was a sodding stampede! Students were making a mad dash for the door in an attempt to escape the classroom of what she was sure qualified as doom. Quickly hopping off her chair, she only managed to join the throngs of students pushing their way over to the door before being trampled like a chicken in a horse race. Perhaps she wasn't the only one who disliked the class.
A very large boy, one who had just somehow managed to vault his vast bottom over her whole desk, stepped rudely on Elise's foot as he shove his way to the door. Glaring daggers at his back as she stumbled forward, she found herself nearly being trampled once again. Where all of the students had appeared from was beyond her. The morning Defense class had never yet seemed quite so large.
The door was right in her sight line. However, it seemed her Professor had other plans. "Miss White," she said briskly, grasping her arm to prevent her from escaping the classroom and waving she piece of parchment Elise had done the surprise quiz on. "Detention tomorrow evening, six thirty for impudence. Have this redone by then." After handing the paper over she stalked back to the area behind her desk, miraculously managing to avoid any collisions.
Face once more the picture of irritability, Elise made her way outside the door to find Russell lazing against the wall, eyeing the door and the now rapidly disappearing horde of students in a manner that suggested he'd been standing there for quite some time. The going was slow and awkward due to a certain sore appendage, and Russell was only just managing to hold in laughter as he watched her pick her way over.
"S'not funny," Elise grumbled, glaring at the older boy as his face grew steadily redder from the effort of hiding his amusement. "A whale blubber boy stepped on my foot and—ow!" she complained as she attempted to step on it. "—and Thornward gave me detention just for answering questions. What else did she want me to do, write her a bloody essay to go along with it?" Gingerly placing pressure on her bruised foot, she shrugged innocently as Russell eyed her in a more-than-suspicious manner.
"What d'you mean, just answered the questions?" he asked. "Don't give me that load of shit, I know a lie when I see one. You don't get detention for ijust answering the questions./i"
"I did!" she protested, before leaning against the wall and chuckling as she shoved the thoroughly red-marked paper in his face. "Alright, so I…embellished them a little. But I still did write answers." The raised her eyebrows at him, pursing her lips. It wasn't a lie, she'd just not answered them correctly. "Basically told her to get her hindquarters in motion and find the answers herself if she wanted to know so badly."
Russell groaned as he scanned it over. "Elise…"
"I know, I know," she said, tapping her fingers on the wall behind her as she eyed the ceiling. She should have known better than to tell Russell, he'd just give her a hard time about it being the honest Hufflepuff he was. It was one of the only dark spots she could see in their friendship – things she found funny generally weren't approved of by him. "I couldn't help it though. Mornings aren't my best time of day."
"I'll say." Glancing at a clock that was placed conveniently on the wall across from them, she pulled away from the wall quickly, wincing as she realized a second too late that her foot was still sore and she'd just placed all her body weight on it. "Class in two minutes, I have to run. Meet me at dinner?"
He nodded, stretching as he pushed himself off of the wall. "Will do, White. Take care, don't get another detention." Elise rolled her eyes in his direction at his serious warning before limping her way down the hallway to yet another hour of misery. One class down, a good six to go. iSweet Merlin./i
