"Hugo Weasley, don't you have any shame!" Roxanne exclaimed in frustration. Her voice was a harsh whisper because she was in the library with Hugo. She had begun tutoring her younger cousin in just about every subject, because Hugo's lack of motivation to do well in school infuriated Roxanne. He was brilliant, but lazy as all get out. Wasing that potential would eat Roxanne alive. Right now, Roxanne was tutoring
"No, I don't. In fact, I'm comfortable exploiting it," Hugo said with a smug tone that made Roxanne uneasy.
"I don't understand you!" Roxanne balled her hand into a fist, and slammed it on the table. A resounding shushing sound filled the room. Hugo shushed her too, with a quiet and exaggerated snicker. Roxanne glared at the direction of the sound, then at Hugo. He shrugged, nonchalant and unbothered. Roxanne knew he had heard the criticism of being shameless all too often. He was fourteen and young and reckless and utterly idiotic. Hugo knew all of that, the self-aware little shit.
"Join the club. No one seems to understand me," Hugo said, as if it was a fact as accepted as the blue of the sky and the green of the grass.
"Once, you ate a goblet's worth of earthworms dug up from the mud surrounding the lake. How can you deal with that disgusting situation as a part of how people remember you?" Roxanne said, incredulous she even could recall that situation. She distinctly, vividly remembered the disgust she felt when a gleam in his eye began to show as he ate the worms.
Hugo laughed as heartily as the restriction of silence could allow. "Oh man, I forgot I did that. It's not worth being in denial for doing something that ridiculous. Everyone who saw me do that was in total shock! Albus cheered me in publicly, and Teddy congratulated me in private. Their accolades-learned that word from you-made it all worth it." Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"Molly was so repulsed at the idea, she left before she could see me actually do it. Rose even tried to smack the goblet out of my hand! But that made me want do it even more. Dominique watched in horror. Can you believe it? Victoire literally screeched! Overreaction much." Hugo's babbling was becoming strangely endearing the more Roxanne listened.
Roxanne had only become close to Hugo when he started Hogwarts. They were two years apart, which was enough of an age difference to make their maturity difference stand out. However, Roxanne appreciated her familial loyalty to her cousin, no matter how weird or strange or ridiculous or nonsensical the boy was. She couldn't deny that his confidence was contagious, and she felt her posture straighten as she listened to more of Hugo's strange tangents. There was always time to study, but silly moments like this weren't going to last forever.
