Maurice almost woke up Roger for class that day. He was standing in front of Roger's bed, ready to just dismiss the last night, after all, Roger wasn't a nice person, so, in reality, it should be okay, right?
But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maurice generally tried to be oblivious to verbal taunts –sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me – but Roger… he'd considered Roger his best friend, and Roger had basically flat-out said that Maurice was annoying and that he hated him.
Maurice could understand annoying. Maurice was used to annoying. But… Roger hated him? And… and…
And Roger was sort of waking up on his own now. Maurice should get out of there so Roger didn't add creepy to the list of adjectives used to describe Maurice.
He ate breakfast quickly, joking around with Blaise Zabini a bit. He liked Blaise. Blaise was a nice person, apart from his… you know, pureblood supremacy thought process. But Maurice was a pureblood, so Blaise was nice to him.
Classes went a little awkwardly. Maurice had moved seats – he now sat beside the blond Ravenclaw that Roger had attacked in Potions, and in every other class he decided to annoy Harold.
After lunch, Roger approached him. "Okay. Look," he said. "I- I'm sorry."
Maurice blinked. Roger went on.
"I mean, you're annoying. But. Um. First of all. I was late for class this morning. So I need you for that. And-"
Maurice debated watching him suffer more, but he looked incredibly uncomfortable and, as funny as it was, Maurice wasn't that mean. "It's okay," he said, grinning. "You're not a nice person and you suck at having friends."
Roger blinked. "Um. Okay."
"So I don't blame you," Maurice said, throwing an arm around Roger's shoulders. "Come on, let's go be minions before lunch ends."
"It's time for Quidditch!" Jack said, bounding into their room. Harold ignored him. Roger glanced up and went back to his homework. Maurice decided to be the only one to actually acknowledge him.
"Oh, are we going?" he asked.
"Of course! First of all, we have to support Draco. And we have to cross our fingers in the hope that Roemers is brutally murdered by a bludger," Jack said, nodding. Maurice grinned.
"Sounds like fun! Come on, Roger! Have fun being alone, Harold!"
Harold threw a shoe at him as he was exiting the room.
Maurice enjoyed watching Quidditch games. Especially when Roger was muttering about the stupidity of having to be there, because then he could point things out to Roger and Roger could mutter that he didn't care, and then Jack could glare at both of them. It really was a fun time.
Every time a bludger came within ten feet of Ralph Roemers, Jack looked extremely hopeful. And then when one of the redheaded twins knocked it away, he cursed and looked extremely disappointing.
In all, these were fun people to watch Quidditch matches with.
It got even more exciting when one of the bludgers started to chase Harry Potter around. Even Roger looked up at that. Jack decided that Harry Potter, while not a totally acceptable replacement for Ralph Roemers, deserved to be brutally murdered by a bludger, too.
And while Harry Potter was being chased by one bludger, the other hit Ralph in the chest. Jack cheered while the blond was taken to the hospital wing.
"I'm bored, can we go?" Roger asked. Jack glanced at him.
"Yeah, sure, Roemers is out," Jack said. He was weirdly happy. Maurice wasn't sure he liked it.
So. This is just a really short filler chapter. Cx Next chapter we'll get into the petrifying and stuff... they'll start getting better once I get my hands on a copy of the Chamber of Secrets, because I'm basically going by what I remember. xP