Roger honestly didn't know why he'd attacked that random Ravenclaw yesterday; he'd just had a feeling that he should. And it had been exhilarating. He loved attacking people, he loved hurting people…
He really was a horrible person, wasn't he?
At least if he was a werewolf he'd have some sort of excuse, but, no, he was just Roger Greyback, the grandson of Fenrir Greyback, Slytherin first year, and now proclaimed 'psychotic werewolf freak.'
At least Jack had been impressed when he'd learned of what had happened. "Bill's a pureblood, but last year he told everyone things about me," he'd said. Of course, he hadn't explained what those things had been, but then again, Roger hadn't really expected him to.
Roger was looking forward to a nice, relaxing night in the common room, but apparently that wasn't on Maurice's schedule. "Come, Roger!" he said, grabbing Roger's hand and pulling him away from the dungeons.
"Maurice, I don't want to- I just- Maurice!" Roger yelped as he was shoved into a broom closet. It had been cleaned out, but he very nearly missed landing on a pile of food that had obviously been smuggled out of the Great Hall under Maurice's shirt.
Roger really wasn't sure why Maurice smuggled food out under his shirt, seeing as he could just wrap it up in a napkin and leave, but, whatever.
Soon, none other than Luna Lovegood was shown into the closet.
"None of this was my idea," Roger said. "Maurice pushed me in here. I just wanted to go back to the common room."
Luna smiled at him. "It's nice."
She didn't say anything about the Bill incident the other day, instead observed the pile of food. "Ooh, he really did get a variety, didn't he?" she said, picking up a piece of chicken.
Roger rolled his eyes. Yeah. He'd certainly gotten a variety. And was insane. And was also going to be dead once Roger got out of there.
"So what is the Slytherin common room like?" Luna asked. Roger glanced at her. She actually looked genuinely interested. This made him slightly uncomfortable, so he shifted a bit further away from her, nearly knocking a broom onto his head.
"Um. Grey. Couches. Fire. Stuff like that," Roger said, feeling heat flood his face.
"It's probably the same up in the Ravenclaw common room. It's the people that are the really interesting bit, though, don't you think? There are people that wander around and talk, people who keep to themselves, people who just hate everybody…" Luna trailed off, looking at him.
"So which one are you?"
"Hm?"
Roger turned red and repeated his question. Hopefully the single candle that lit the room was dim enough so that she didn't notice. "What kind of person are you?"
Luna bit her lip. "Well, I don't know. Perhaps… I do like to be by myself sometimes, but I have friends like Simon and Piggy. What about you?"
"I wish everyone would leave me alone," he muttered. "But I'm stuck with Maurice. And Jack has 'made me his minion.' And by becoming Jack's minion, I'm also stuck with Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle."
Luna nodded. "I kind of understand what you mean there. If I was around people like Crabbe and Goyle all the time, I'd want to be alone, too."
"No, you don't understand. It doesn't matter what kind of person it is, I just don't want to be around them. Everyone- everyone either ignores me or stays away from me, and it's only going to get worse after what I did to that… uh…"
"Bill."
"Yeah, after what I did to Bill. Not that I mind. But I hate other people, other people hate me, and Maurice just doesn't understand that," Roger took a breath and glanced at Luna. She was looking at him, interested. "Sorry."
"Hate's kind of a strong word, don't you think? From what I've seen, Maurice, Jack, and your other friends don't hate you. They just seem a little scared at times. And I don't hate you," Luna said. "Are you sure you mean hate?"
"Pretty sure. Maybe it's just a mutual dislike – and Maurice is the exception. Maurice is always the exception. Maurice gets along with everyone, but for some reason he's decided to stick around me."
Just then, Maurice opened the door looking down at them. "That turned really deep and not what I was going for," he said, managing a half-smile. "Luna, you better get back to your common room."
Luna smiled at Roger and left, skipping through the halls. "So you were listening in?" Roger asked, swallowing.
"Do you even know me?" Maurice said. "Of course I was listening in."
"Um…" Roger trailed off. "Sorry."
Maurice nodded and walked away. "I won't wake you up anymore, if that's what you want. I mean, I wouldn't want to annoy you."
"Wait- Maurice!" Roger stood up. Maurice kept walking. "I-"
"Don't make excuses," Maurice said, so quietly that Roger thought that he might've imagined it. "I'm used to being the annoying one."
Yay, conflict?