This Just In! (Tag;; Open)

[kendra]

Kendra didn’t like owls!

She found herself sitting outside of the owlery, pouting like a child who had just been denied a cookie before dinner. All she had wanted was to see if the owls would take her new paper and distribute it at lunch to all the students of Hogwarts. They had a right to know what was going on at school, and she was just the person to make sure they knew! In her own words, not through any other papers or postings. She had the real stories, and she was ready to get her name out there. How else were the students going to know about the rigging of the chess club games, or the out-dated equipment in the kitchens that the poor house elves are forced to use day in and day out?

Unfortunately, she didn’t really know how to work with animals. At least, not the feathered kind. She had a kitty, and she knew how to make him happy, but owls? No wonder Elbow liked to hunt them. They were very picky little sods.

Not only had she not been able to get their attention to get the paper out, but she had been rewarded for all her hard work by getting pooped on! And more than once! It was like the birds had plotted against her, sending a wave of owl poop bombs down to send her running. If it was a war they wanted, then it was a war they were going to get- she would stick her paper to their legs one by one if she needed to.

After she got cleaned up, of course.

She had left the owlery itself, hanging out in the hallway to prep for round two. She had taken her wand out, and was just ready to clean the bird droppings off her robes with a simple cleaning spell. That was when the damn owls sprang their apparent sneak attack, a massive squawk resonating from within the owlery above. It started the young Ravenclaw, causing her wand to slip from her hand. It slid away from her across the floor, sliding under a statue as though it had been waiting for the right moment to run away for years.

“Damn you, owls!” she hissed, “I’ll make sure the world knows of your treachery!” She would certainly have to add ‘owls hidden agenda’ to her research list. First, however, she needed to get her wand back.

Frowning, she got down on her hands and knees, peaking under the statue with her butt sticking high in the air. She was still coated in bird poop, and probably looked quite ridiculous.

When she started to care about what she looked like while on the job, she’d have to quit.

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

If there was one thing that Rodolphus despised doing then it was writing to home. Why his mother insisted on monthly updates as to how he and his brother were getting on at school was beyond him. He knew she was lonely in their house but quite honestly, Rod had better things to do. Fairly often he forgot and he would get a letter from her demanding a response and he would have to respond to her commands. Like now. Another reason he avoided writing to his mother was because he wasn’t particularly fond of the owlery. The owls were the problem. Rats with wings they were. Birds in general, Rod had a fear of them. It was their faces, their wings flying over you, he guessed it had something to do with the fact that they were above him that he wasn’t comfortable with. They had the advantage of being able to attack from above. It freaked him out.

And so he had hoped that the owlery would be empty (maybe even a lack of owls as well though that would defeat the point of the place) because he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t run screaming from the place. He didn’t want to have to fight with an owl in front of another student; it wouldn’t give his reputation much of a boost. It was a fear that he was quite hoping to keep under wraps. He had lasted six years already; another few months couldn’t be hard. Unfortunately though it seemed today wasn’t going to be his lucky day. He was halfway up the spiral staircase and he could hear talking. He couldn’t quite make out the words above the racket that the birds were making (was it just him or did they sound angry?) but there was definitely someone human up there. He debated over whether to turn and leave. But it had taken a lot of strength to come even this far and if he left it any longer his mother was going to get upset. Feeling his mother’s wrath was a lot more hassle than sending her a letter and so he continued up the rest of the staircase.

He reached the doorway but froze on the threshold for two reasons. One was to survey the room and gage whether the birds were in an attacking mood and whether it was safe to enter and the other reason he froze was because he had noticed the position of the room’s only human occupant. They were female that much he could tell from their backside. He smirked, leaning against the doorframe. ”Nice. Yeah babe, stay just like that for me.” He said lecherously hoping that the girl was A, attractive and B, had a way with owls because he might be able to get her to tie his letter to an owl for him.

[kendra]

Kendra froze, her expression immediately falling when she heard the comment from behind. Great, some arrogant little punk was making a remark about her butt being in the air. Normally the owlery didn’t have anyone in it- so why was she being bugged the one time she decided to pay the place a visit? Had she come during note-sending rush hour? Annoyed, she pulled away from the statue, leaving her wand trapped underneath for the time being as she got herself up to look at the smug guy who was about to get a stinging cheek after she smacked him a good one for being such a guy. When she saw who it was, she gave an annoyed huff, crossing her arms over her poop-stained chest.

“Oh great, Lestrange the Pain- what are you doing here?” She growled, ignoring the fact that she probably looked like she had been in a fight with every owl in the place. “Sending a note off to your dear mommy, bragging about the people you’ve hurt recently?”

She didn’t like people like him- people who stepped all over others. It wasn’t that she knew everything about him, of course, but in such cases her reporter side had to make room for her more biased personal feelings. There was no being objective when she watched some of the things people like him liked to do. Lestrange was probably one of the top people on her ‘list of guys she doesn’t like at Hogwarts’.

For various reasons.

Watching him, she suddenly felt like she really needed to get back to her wand. Without it, she was really in trouble, especially around someone like him. Of course, she didn’t want to think all Slytherins were bad. Some of them probably didn’t follow the usual rules, just like some Ravenclaws didn’t seem that bright from time to time. They had other qualities that put them in the house- it didn’t mark them. However, that didn’t mean she was going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone deserved it.

Case in point.

“Really, though, if you’re looking for a place to do something nefarious- this one’s occupied. Go somewhere else to be a sneaky bugger.”

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

An even bigger smirk broke out upon his face when he saw who it was. In all honesty he wasn’t that pleased to see her. Rod wasn’t exactly Kendra’s biggest fan and vice versa but she had a sharp tongue and it was quite amusing to see her in this position. Looking really quite haggard and stained. He curled his lip maliciously at her appearance. Rod prided himself on looking good at all times, it wouldn’t be befitting of a pureblood Slytherin such as himself to wander around the school looking like he had fallen backwards through a forest. Which is how Kendra looked currently. He imitated her, folding his arms across his chest also but stayed leaning against the doorframe cautiously. ”You looked better turned the other way around.” He said it both because it was true and because he was a lecherous male who more often than not only had one thing on his mind.

”Yes, Landau how smart of you to notice the scroll in my hand.” Rod said scathingly. “Isn’t that generally why people use the owlery? To send letters. It seems Ravenclaws really do have intelligence in abundance.” His words were laced thickly with sarcasm. Really, did she have to prove that she was witty with every statement? Ravenclaw’s need to prove their worth really did get on Rodolphus’ nerves. And this particular Ravenclaw liked to try and put people in their place. Well Rod wasn’t having any of it; she could take her journalistic nosiness elsewhere. Rod couldn’t stand people like her, sticking their noses into other people’s business it was so seedy and shallow.

”Nefarious.” He repeated the word with a chuckle it amused him because it wasn’t often he was called something so eloquent. That was Ravenclaws for you he supposed; always having to prove that they had swallowed the dictionary. Usually it was sick, bastard, twisted, psycho or an amalgamation of all of the aforementioned. ”Last time I checked, you weren’t in charge of where I’m allowed to visit, Landau.” He said dangerously. Being told what to do was something that Rod disliked greatly. It was another reason as to why he was forever in trouble with professors who liked to exert their authority. As far as he was concerned he would go where he liked and do as he liked whenever he pleased.

[kendra]

Of course he would comment on how she looked- that’s how he had started things off, and he was nothing without his appearance. That was the only thing important to people like him. How he looked and how people saw him. Which was weird, because most people thought he was an asshole. They saw him as evil. So… why was he so happy about that? Apparently it was only a certain crowd he cared about impressing, and most of the ‘normal’ masses were not in that exclusive little group. Considering the things he did to impress them, she was glad she didn’t share their line of thinking.

They seemed absolutely mad.

“Come on, Roddy, you know you want to hug all of this,” she said, motioning up and down her poop-smeared robes. They weren’t exactly figure-flattering, but she was only making a joke. He wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot wand, much less give her a hug. Which was exactly why she now found herself determined to get his robes stained, just like hers.

It was going to happen.

“You’re right,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, “guess I’m not in charge- just like looking out for the public. Kind of my job, right? So why don’t you go ahead and get that oh-so-important letter of yours mailed so you can get out of my face? I have work to do, and I know how you dislike being around people like me.” She gave her hair a toss, watching him with nothing but contempt. This guy… he just got under her skin, and he didn’t even have to do anything to do it. It was annoying she couldn’t keep her ‘reporter cool’ around him, like she could other people she didn’t like.

His face brought out her punch reflex, and there was just no way to avoid that kind of feeling, no matter how good at your job you happened to be.

“Come on, big guy, don’t look at me like that: hug it out!” Without further warning, she sprang forward, risking a wand attack while she was mostly defenseless just because she wanted to follow through with her plan while she still had a chance. She aimed to take hold of him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Though she loathed him, she was willing to do whatever she could to bring him down to ‘human’ levels.

So she hopped he would not get out of the way and she would smack him with a bird-poop hug attack.

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

A blink. A moment for what she had said to sink in. Did she seriously just call him that? Rodolphus commanded a certain level of respect from everyone else; even fellow Slytherins knew their place was beneath his. He was a seventh year now; he looked up to no one. He knew that people feared him and he thrived off of that, seeing people cower beneath a mere dirty look from him – that was the way he liked to live. This girl however, this impertinent, brash, intolerable girl, did not seem to realise or even care that she was doing everything possible to get him angry. Calling him ‘Roddy’ was not the wisest of decisions, unless of course you had a death wish. He was guessing that Kendra wanted her life expectancy to be longer than sixteen years and so he merely clenched his jaw together and stretched his fingers; they were itching to reach for his wand.

But he had been taught better. It was true, he could be quick to fire at times but displaying an indifferent emotion was key when he knew the other person was trying to get under his skin. Of course his reactions to her words hadn’t been very subtle but he hadn’t pulled out his wand and crucio’d her ass, which honestly had been a very appealing option. He wasn’t sure though that that wouldn’t set the owls off, it seemed they were volatile today having evidently already attacked Kendra. ”I dislike being around people like you when you’re dressed like that.” He said the words slowly and through gritted teeth because it was taking every ounce of his strength not to curse her and he really wanted her to leave so he could deal with the owls in peace. ”But how about you take those robes off?” He suggested, because making innuendos went a long way to calming him down. And he knew she’d be repulsed by the idea.

He was still smirking over his lewd comment when she came at him and he reacted too slowly. By the time he’d drawn his wand she was pressed against him. Her actions had confused him as well, he wasn’t used to people coming at him like that; usually they were cowering in fear no one willingly hugged him that was for sure. ”You disgusting bitch!” His wand was trapped between the two of them and in his anger and repulsion he cast a spell to get her away from him as quickly as possible. He felt and could smell a hole being singed in his clothing and then burning of flesh. He had suffered but Kendra had probably suffered a similar fate as well.

[kendra]

“Ow!” Yowled Kendra, leaping away from the boy again. Now she had bird poop and a hole in her robes to deal with- it was just not a good day for her clothes. But at least the poop hadn’t also hurt like hell. His stupid spell had burnt her skin, leaving a visible mark on her normally fair skin. Great, now she was going to have to get that looked at too- as if she didn’t have enough on her plate! She already had to deal with the birds at some point, and find a way to get her make-shift paper out to the masses. Preferably in a manner that didn’t leave her covered in tiny shit spots.

The burn stung and she really wasn’t one to deal with pain well, but she sucked it up so she could offer Rodolphus a wide, mocking grin.

“That might not have been the smartest plan I’ve ever had, but I think it was totally worth it just to see the look on your face! Now, is that disgust over hugging someone like me, or getting stains on your lovely robes?” She asked, sure she was probably digging her own grave. But that was her trouble- she didn’t know when to stop, and was always prodding cages until the animal inside got really angry and lashed out. Just because they were on the school grounds didn’t mean she was safe from any kind of attack. And without her wand?

She was really feeling the opposite of safe, even if she wasn’t letting it known visibly. He didn’t have to see her fear, just like he didn’t have to know how much the spell had actually hurt her. If he couldn’t tell from the burn itself, then he was kind of an idiot as well as a jerk.

She could only hope the mark on him hurt just as much as the one on her.

“Now we’re matching,” she hummed lightly, “two poop-stained, crispy students of Hogwarts.” She sighed and wondered what her next move was going to be. She needed to get her wand out from under the statue, but she imagined it would still be there if she made a run for it and came back later. As fun as it was to tease him, she knew how dangerous Rodolphus was. All that mock courage didn’t change the genuine fear she felt lingering in the back of her throat.

She shifted her position, letting her hand rest on her hip as any lady in attitude would. “Guess now you’ll have to take your robes off with me, huh?” Yes, she had heard his snotty comment. Even in the midst of her attack, she heard the prev.

Boys.

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

Apparently she had suffered similarly. A satisfied smirk crept onto Rod’s face but it turned into a grimace when he felt the burn on his stomach. He pulled a thread from the hole that had been singed in his robes and dropped it to the floor with a distasteful look on his face. Great, he’d have to pay out for a new pair now. Wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it (even with his father investing his fortune in alcohol bottles) but it was extra hassle that he really couldn’t be bothered with. And it meant another trip to the owlery to send off the order. The mark on his skin was red, shiny and raw and really needed looking at sooner rather than later but he’d look like a bit of a wuss if he turned around and left now and he wasn’t going to give Kendra that sort of satisfaction. Plus the fact that she must be in a similar pain as well made him feel better. If only slightly.

He narrowed his eyes at her, wondering why on earth he was even dignifying her with an answer. ”Both.” He said through gritted teeth. ”Do you have no taste? Why are you covered in it anyway? Did you sleep here?” He wasn’t going to ask but his curiosity had gotten the better of him and maybe it would be a humiliating tale. He could spread things about her then; give her a taste of her own medicine. Besides, it wouldn’t do him good to get overly angry. Too much recently had he been letting people wind him up and he was sick of it. He was a pureblood Slytherin, good at controlling his emotions. He was better than everybody else. He had to pull himself together.

Rodolphus’ lecherous smile returned as Kendra made her return comment. Never taking his eyes off of her face he slowly raised his hands to his chest and undid one button and then another. ”Maybe I will.” He opened the third button but paused over the fourth. Enough of his chest was exposed to get a reaction from her. Honestly he didn’t really want to expose his skin to beaks and talons even if he wouldn’t say no to getting Kendra out of her robes. She’d look much better out of them than in. His imagination started to wander to the gutter. But he was also wondering how brave she felt. Yes, she was shooting him remarks and calling him names (never generally a wise move with any Slytherin, especially not one as prone to using curses as Rod could be) but surely that was all a front?

Still, he looked her up and down as if checking her out, letting his fingers tug down on his robes seductively raising his eyebrow. She was giving him attitude; he would give her some as well.

[kendra]

“I just thought it would help me become one with the parliament,” Kendra replied dryly, “there’s some owl 101 for you: a group of them is called a parliament. Now you can’t say our encounter wasn’t, at least, educational.” She imagined they had learned more than just that, though, after their little run in. He had probably learned not to use spells when two bodies were touching, which was useful information too. Though, really, he shouldn’t have been dumb enough to do it in the first place. Now they had twin burns that stung like hell and would raise questions in the hospital wing. What could the two of them been doing together for THIS to have happened? Actually, she might have liked listening to Rodolphus lie his way out of that one. No doubt he would have come up with something brilliant.

Slytherins were great at masking the truth.

She watched, rather amused, as he started to unbutton his robes. How quickly he seemed to jump from loathing her to wanting to get her nude! No doubt his penis was more powerful than his brain, and he wasn’t using his mind right at that moment. Or was he just trying to get a rise out of her? She smiled at him, placing a hand on his robes, right where he had stopped unbuttoning them. “Now, come on,” she almost cooed, “keep it in your pants, dear Rod- there are baby owls present and I would hate to traumatize them.” She moved a finger to his burn, brushing over it ever-so-lightly as she traced his chest up to his chin, flicking her finger from under it with a smile on her face.

“Anyway, you know as well as I do that the chances of us bumping good bits is about as likely as the headmaster shaving his beard.” She turned from him at that, moving to investigate the statue once more. From the new angle, she was happy to see that it hadn’t rolled under the thing at all- it had veered off to the side and was resting just next to the inanimate being. She hadn’t been able to see it from how she had approached it the first time.

Could have come in handy to have known from the beginning, though.

She bent down, booty in the air to distract her somewhat dangerous male companion, and plucked her wand off the ground. Instantly she felt far more secure. Though she was great at putting up a front, she had been pretty damn scared being there weaponless the whole time. He was no normal Slytherin- he was an honest-to-God threat.

And now, at least, she had a way to defend herself against him.

Turning back to face him, she offered a thoughtful frown. Even in the strange light of the owlery, she could see how red his burn was- how red hers probably was as well. But for her, it was always more important to consider someone else, first. Even if he was an unprecedented asshole.

“Joking aside, you should get that checked out. Looks like you took a bit more of a burn then me,” she offered, though she hadn’t really taken proper stock of her own burn. It seemed a lot easier to just… pretend it wasn’t there.

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

It was with a curl of his lip that Rod replied to Kendra. ”I know what a parliament of owls is. And did you know that more than one raven is an unkindness? I think one is enough.” He was snapping at her now. If anybody knew anything about Rodolphus Lestrange it was not to get him snapping at you, it meant he was one step closer to going psycho on your arse. Although Rod wasn’t stupid; he knew it wouldn’t be wise to curse Kendra, she would be the first to blab and the whole school would know for sure that he was a user of the cruciatus curse. It was something that the Slytherin seventh year preferred to keep as a mystery.

An eyebrow rose warningly as she put her hand on his chest. Touching Rod was a risky business especially if you weren’t doing it to remove him of his clothes. Either she did have a death wish or she was too bold for her own good. Either way, Rod did nothing to push her away. Instead he watched her finger and couldn’t help but twitch at the contact, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips. He cocked his head to one side, his expression a mix of lust and loathing as she flicked her finger under his chin. Did she enjoy winding him up? Stupid question, Rod, of course she does. He knew she wasn’t serious about it, but still, he couldn’t help but let himself get wound up by it. She often managed to touch a nerve did Kendra.

He narrowed his eyes at her yet again. He hated her. Or at least he hated that she wouldn’t sleep with him. He’d tried this all before and with no luck. And no, he didn’t want to get down and dirty in the owlery but still, it would at least massage his ego somewhat if she agreed she did want him. But no, Miss Landau was still being a ridiculous killjoy. ”That can be arranged.” He wondered vaguely how Dumbledore would react if Rod forcibly shaved him of his beard. The idea amused him greatly though of course he would never do it. ”Is that because you’re in denial, because let’s face it; I’m Merlin’s gift to women. You’re the journalist Landau, if you’ve done your research on me you’ll know that’s true.” He paused, allowing himself a moment or two for his words to sink in and to smirk arrogantly at himself. ”Or is it simply because you are a prude?”

Rod looked down at his burn again, inspecting it with a frown. ”If I was easily offended, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me, but your concern is flattering. And forgive me for staring,” He gazed pointedly and for longer than was really necessary at the burn on her stomach, ”But yours looks just as nasty.” He re-did the buttons of his robes, covering his skin from the potential attack of talons and Kendra. ”So what shall we tell the nurse? That things got a little too heated between us,” A smirk, ”Or we both screwed up whilst practising a spell?”

[kendra]

Kendra laughed at his comments, brushing them off easily enough. “Oh, yes, a gift to ladies. They would weep if something happened to you, I’m sure. All the world’s female population would mourn. Or perhaps they would throw a party. It’s kind of hard to tell.” She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, fairly certain women kind would be much better off without him trolling for booty all over the place. It was horrible to think that so many ladies fell victim to what he considered his charms- it was giving everyone a bad name, and sending him the wrong impression, clearly. Whatever was going on, she was glad she seemed to be immune to it. The farthest thing from her mind was cozying up to someone like him.

Naturally, she was like any other girl her age, and wanted a boyfriend of her own. But to stoop low enough to have a one nighter with someone like him? She would never be that desperate. EVER.

And that seemed to annoy him, too, which was a plus.

“don’t worry- I have done my research on you, my friend, and I know those girls probably don’t know have as much as I do. If they did, they wouldn’t be remotely interested in romping with you. But don’t worry- I’m not really into the gossip like some of your friends, so I won’t print any of it until I get a bit more proof.” She was, unfortunately, being honest about that. She didn’t like printing stories without proof. Who was she, Rita? No- not in a million years. If she wanted to expose someone for who they really were, she wanted proof of that person they were supposed to be. Otherwise, who would believe her? It would be one word against another, with no facts to back up either of them. Not only would that be useless, but it would put her in some danger, too. She would be a target before she could do any real damage.

Not the way she wanted to go. She at least needed to make a name for herself, first. And, damnit, she would some day. Maybe not for a long time, but she would. However, she doubted an expose on Rodolphus would be the ground-breaking story she needed. Slytherins with ties to the Dark Lord and shady histories?

Color the world shocked already.

“Why don’t we say I was helping you in school work, and you messed up because you’re just not that good at spells,” she teased easily enough, “I’m sure the idea of someone needing a Ravenclaw tutor wouldn’t be too suspicious.” She imagined, no matter what they told the nurse, she would be suspicious to the truth of the matter. Even if they DID tell the truth, she would probably think something worse happened. Hard to win when a Slytherin was involved. It was all his fault.

While they were not-flirting, an owl decided to take the matter of getting them out of his house into his own claws, swooping down at them and letting out an angry hoot.

[RODOLPHUS JUDE LESTRANGE]

Her sarcastic responses really were beginning to grate on him. He pondered briefly over whether to just jinx her mouth shut. The idea really was very appealing although he was more than certain she’d find some other way to irritate him even without the use if her mouth. ”You won’t print anything at all if you know what’s good for you.” He growled at her warningly. Being the centre of everyone’s attention wasn’t necessarily his thing, for good or for bad. He especially didn’t want anything to be written down in print about himself by Kendra, libel or true. He was a mystery; he’d quite like things to stay that way since it worked in his favour. He’d be keeping one eye on her now that was for sure she probably knew too much as it was already. The thought really didn’t sit comfortably with him and he suddenly had an overwhelming urge to curse her because if that didn’t keep her quiet then nothing would. But he kept his wand lowered he knew he had to pick his battles and unfortunately this was one he would have to walk away from. It did nothing to improve his mood.

”The idea of me needing a Ravenclaw tutor is suspicious.” Rod replied, clearly outraged by the idea. He wasn’t a moron. He wasn’t top of his classes either but that was purely down to not bothering, not because he was stupid. He hated the fact that the other houses tended to see the Slytherins as brainless. Ravenclaws of course were so up themselves it was unbelievable that they managed to function properly at all. Rod was just about to offer up another explanation when an owl, and a particularly large one at that, flew at them, baring its beak and talons rather threateningly. Rod took a step back, remembering his company just in time and so managed to keep his reaction rather cool. His face had momentarily shown shock and probably quite a bit of fear but he sorted it soon enough.

Gripping his wand tightly, his teeth gritted together, glaring at the offensive owl and taking a step backwards, he said, ”How about we argue about this on the way there?” And without waiting for an answer he retreated (not wanting to take his eyes off of the owls) and left. The letter to his mother would have to wait another day. Or maybe he’d send his brother up for him since Rabastan didn’t have a fear of rats with wings.

(Finite, no?)