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Post by lloydhoratioirving on Apr 13, 2012 20:00:16 GMT
It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. He wasn't sure what happened, but all he knew was that it wasn't his fault. And yet, he'd gotten into trouble. Big trouble and now he was in detention with one of the most unpleasant people he'd ever encountered in his life. It all started with a big misunderstanding.......
"So......there really is a spell that'll make gold?" the boy asked, his eyes wide, his mouth open in shock and awe. "And all I gotta do is say them words three times and wave the wand around?" the Slytherin boy nodded, confirming his story. "Okay!" Lloyd said brightly, and the Slytherin ran off, Lloyd thought nothing of it. Instead, he waved his wand and spoke the spell three times. Only instead of gold, three explosions went off.
The first one set the tapestries in the Entrance Hall on fire, the second one blew out a window, the third one blew apart a suit of armor. Lloyd yelped and tried fixing what he'd done wrong, but then he heard laughter and looked over, Bellatrix Black was heading over, oblivious to the danger. One of the tapestries was falling, it was still on fire and would hit her.
Without thinking, he fired another spell, this one was a water spell and it worked. Sort of. It hit the tapestry before it could fall on her, but it also soaked Bellatrix from head to toe. "......Sorry!" He called and before he knew it, he was screaming and running in circles, dodging spells being fired at him from Bellatrix.
Argus Filtch discovered them and thinking that they'd been dueling, he put them in detention right away. Confiscating their wands, he put them to work in the Trophy Room, polishing them by hand, mopping the floor and washing the windows.
"........We gotta do the floor last." Lloyd muttered, "We should start with the windows, then the trophies." he glanced over at Bellatrix, "I didn't mean to get you wet. I was trying to help you." and he removed his jacket, holding it out to her, for the poor thing looked cold! His jacket wasn't the best, but it was warm and comfortable. His favorite one too, a handsome shade of red and made from leather. "Well, this work ain't gonna do itself! Let's get started!" he said cheerfully and reached for the bucket of water and the sponge.
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Post by BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK on Apr 18, 2012 12:30:21 GMT
To say that Bellatrix Black was annoyed was probably the biggest understatement of the year. In all honesty, it was probably a good thing that she’d had her wand confiscated, because she was feeling quite murderous at the current moment.
All she had wanted was to do was go into the Great Hall and sit down at her table for lunch. But no, the world had other plans, or at least Lloyd Irving did. Without warning, she had been hit with a massive wall of water. Freezing cold water, to be more precise. Well, it had only taken her half a second to pull her wand out and start trying to hex the idiot that did this to her.
And then Argus Filch had to come running in didn’t he? And so their wands had been taken off them and he had escorted them to the trophy room for an immediate detention. Of course, Bella had put up quite a fight, hurling abuse at both Irving and the caretaker on the journey up to the trophy room. How dare that idiotic squib take a wand from someone like her? She was absolutely seething by the time they reached the trophy room.
“Oh how observant Irving,” she sneered, “I wouldn’t know where to begin without you.” Her words dripped with sarcasm and venom, and the look she was giving him, well; if looks could kill he wouldn’t be looking quite so cheerful. She glanced around the room, resisting the urge to pick up something and throw it at him. There were hundreds of trophies in this room; it would be late evening before they were finished in here. As her eyes settled back on him, she noticed he was holding out his jacket. She stared at him blankly, not quite understanding. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, why was he offering her his jacket? He was a Gryffindor, he wasn’t even supposed to be treating her civilly, never mind actually worrying that she was too cold.
A smirk appeared on her lips, her anger momentarily forgotten. There was something . . . different about this Gryffindor. And maybe Bella could use it to her advantage. She took the jacket from him, but laid it over a chair without comment. The fact that he shared a dorm with her blood traitor cousin put her off slightly, well, quite a lot. “You wouldn’t mind starting by yourself would you?” she asked slyly, “I’ve a bit of a headache, but it’ll go away in a few minutes.” Bella moved to one side of the room and sat down on a chair. Of course, she had no intention of doing any of the work, but there was no need to give everything away at once.
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Post by lloydhoratioirving on Apr 18, 2012 20:11:45 GMT
"That's okay!" Lloyd said brightly, "Happy to help!" he missed the sarcasm and the look she gave him was wasted, for he'd turned to get started.
"A headache? Well.....okay sure!" He agreed, anything to make it easy on the girl. He worked away, even whistling a happy tune. He wasn't glad about being stuck here, not by a long shot, but he could at least pretend. Maybe if he had a sunny outlook, which Filch returned he'd take it as a sign they'd learned a lesson and let them off early.
He washed the windows by himself, glancing over at Bellatrix every now and again, "So....is your head okay now?" He'd ask every ten or fifteen minutes and then shrug and go back to work. By the time all the windows were squeaky clean, over an hour had passed by.
"Uh.......you feeling any better now?" He asked, and then sighed giving her a sympathetic look. "You must really have a bad headache then. No....no it's okay. I don't mind." and he gathered some trophies, sitting down he took the dust cloth and started dusting it off, inside and out, in all the areas he could. He worked pretty quickly, dusting and then smearing polish onto the trophies until he could see his own face in the metal. He passed another hour this way and then, sat back to take a break.
He was already worn out and he'd only done about fifteen, and there were probably thousands of them! Sighing, he looked up at Bellatrix, "This isn't easy." He said, "I.....could use some....help. I mean....if you're feelin' better of course. Wouldn't want you straining yourself or nothin'." he said with a smile.
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Post by BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK on Apr 20, 2012 22:50:14 GMT
It was almost in disbelief that she watched Lloyd turn around and willingly agree to start without her. She hadn’t even tried to be persuasive; it normally took a lot of convincing before anybody would do something for her. But maybe that had something to do with the fact she belonged to Slytherin house, after all, her housemates weren’t exactly known for being the most helpful bunch. And so for this Gryffindor to agree to do her a favor so easily, well, there was something quite unsettling about the whole situation.
Two hours passed in pretty much the same manner. Bella barely paid him any attention, instead wrapping herself in her own thoughts. Of course, every fifteen minutes or so, she would make a comment complaining about her headache still being really bad. And then he would shrug and turn back to his work, even whistling a happy tune. It was astounding. His willingness to believe whatever came out of her mouth was unbelievable.
Which got her thinking. No longer was she wrapped up in her own thoughts, but she was forming an idea in her head, and if it worked, it could be very beneficial for her indeed. She stood up nodding. “Of course. My headache’s pretty much gone now. I’m happy to help.” The words sounded fake coming out of her mouth, but she couldn’t help it, she was after all not used to speaking in such a manner. She gathered some trophies and began to mimic his actions, polishing and dusting each one in turn. It was almost a new experience for her. After a detention in her first year when she had violently thrown a trophy at Filch’s cat, the teachers decided that cleaning wasn’t the best option for her when it came to detentions. And it did explain why Filch hated her so much.
She worked in silence for a few minutes, wondering how to approach the next part of her plan. The plan being to have someone in Gryffindor, an insider to help her out if the need arose. Lloyd Irving was the perfect candidate, there was something a little bit . . . . different about him. If anybody would fall for her lies, it would be him. “So, Irv . . . . Lloyd.” She had to force his first name out of her mouth, calling a Gryffindor by their first name went against everything she believed in. “I believe you know my cousin? Sirius?”
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Post by lloydhoratioirving on Apr 25, 2012 14:46:28 GMT
Lloyd was a simple minded, trusting fellow so when Bellatrix said something, he believed her. She hadn't shown him any reason why he shouldn't trust her otherwise yet. That was how he worked. He gave his trust and friendship to everyone he met until they proved they didn't deserve it. Bellatrix hadn't done that yet, so until she did he would trust her and try to be a friend.
As he worked alongside Bellatrix he said, "You like animals? I got a cat. Little siamese. He's got blue eyes. My friend named him though, Ptolemy. It's got a P in it, but you don't say it....kinda weird. Anyway, it's the name of some guy who ruled in ancient Egypt. I think the cat likes the name. Makes him feel all important or something I guess." He said with a laugh.
"Yeah?" He asked, sitting on the floor polishing yet another trophy, this was getting on his nerves, scrubbing and wiping and shining and cleaning! Again and again and again! He considered talking to Bellatrix, but if rumors were to be believed, she hated anything to do with muggles and he was a muggleborn. Maybe she didn't know that about him. He decided to stay silent about it. Suddenly, she asked him if he knew Sirius.
"Who doesn't? But if ya mean if I'm close to him or something ..... I ain't. Not really. He don't notice me all that much." Lloyd replied, with a smile "Why?"
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Post by BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK on May 4, 2012 15:32:18 GMT
The work she was doing was mind-numbingly repetitive. It was a position she had never been in before, being forced to clean and polish. And it was incredibly irritating. This was work for the house elves, or at least for the students in the school that were of a lesser status. And if there was one thing Bella considered herself to be, it was above everyone else. Having to actually sit on the floor and polish these trophies was just humiliating. She would never hear the end of it if someone in her house walked in and saw her sitting there.
She barely moved her head as Lloyd began speaking, although her eyebrows did rise considerably, but she did her best to hide that fact by keeping her eyes focused on the trophy she was polishing. Irving was certainly . . . different. Most people wouldn’t dare talk to Bellatrix Black full stop, yet here she had a Gryffindor chatting away about cats. It just wasn’t heard of. Her first instinct was to just ignore him, or tell him to shut up, but that would surely cause him to become defensive. No, she had to keep him on her good side. But there was no reason why she couldn’t be honest. “No, I don’t,” she answered shortly, “Every pet I ever had as a child ended up dead within a few weeks.” Bellatrix had been a very curious child, and the pets her parents bought her had always been the subjects of her ‘experiments’.
She worked in silence for a few more minutes, desperately trying to avoid looking at the sheer volume of trophies they had left to polish. From the looks of it, they would be here for hours. Lloyd’s answer about Sirius wasn’t unexpected. That sounded exactly like her cousin, always focused on himself and not noticing anyone else around him. “I see.” She paused slightly, an idea suddenly appearing in her mind. “Tell me, have you ever heard Sirius talking about his family?” If she was ever going to get something she could use in a fight against Sirius, Lloyd was the person she was going to get it from.
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Post by lloydhoratioirving on May 6, 2012 21:13:17 GMT
"Oh.....that ....." he didn't know what to say to that! He hoped that she hadn't actually killed the pets and maybe she'd just gotten a bunch of fish and fish were pretty hard to keep alive in the first place! Yeah.... maybe she just kept fish. He hoped she did! He loved animals! And the idea that anyone would keep them as pets only for them to die weeks later was....disturbing.
"A couple o' times yeah." Lloyd replied as he scrubbed, boy this was really starting to hurt his arms! He'd be sore tomorrow, that was for damn sure. He was silent for a long time before he noticed Bellatrix watching him, "What?" He asked, "He doesn't tell me anything." He said, "I just overhear it and it ain't my secret to tel or nothin'. I don't tell secrets. Even if they ain't mine to tell." He told her, and it was obvious that she wasn't going to get it out of him.
He might be slower on the uptake than the other kids, but that didn't mean he was a total idiot. He knew Bellatrix's reputation as a pretty mean person, almost.....psychotic in a way. What if he told the girl about the things Sirius said about her and his family? She'd probably use it against him and that would make Sirius mad at him and in turn, James would be get mad and then everything would be ruined!
He sighed and leaned back on his hands for a moment "......Why do you wanna know?" He asked, deciding to give her a chance, maybe just maybe she would be nice to her little cousin and would actually use the information he had to make up with him!
.........A maybe she'd marry a muggle and live happily ever after.
"......I don't hear much of anythin' about his family from Sirius." He said, "We ain't exactly the best of pals or nothin'. He doesn't talk to me unless he's got no choice and even if he did, it wouldn't be very cool of me to turn around and tell his tales to anyone! Least of all you." He said quietly, feeling a little bit bad about having to be so frank and honest with the girl.
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Post by BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK on May 11, 2012 11:41:14 GMT
It took almost all of Bella’s self-control not to smirk at Lloyd’s reaction to her statement about dead animals. It probably was for the best, she didn’t need the Gryffindor sitting opposite her to think of her as someone who murdered her animals if this plan was going to work. But she was of the impression that she had already given too much away from her previous statement. From the look on Lloyd’s face, it seemed he had worked out that she had been the cause of her pets death. It seemed the damage was already done.
Her mood soured as it soon became apparent that Lloyd wasn’t going to repeat anything that Sirius had said about his family. Despite his apparent stupidity, he wasn’t as simple-minded to just recite everything she wanted to know. Bella’s expression darkened. She had been of the impression that this would be so easy. Apparently, she would have to try just a little bit harder. But if there was one thing Bella labelled herself as, it was manipulative. She wasn’t anywhere near finished with the subject yet.
Under the pretence of embarrassment, she tilted her head towards the floor, hiding most of her face from Lloyd. In actual fact, she was hiding the smirk that was threatening to grace her lips, but Lloyd didn’t have to know that. “Well, you see . . . . it’s just that . . . Sirius won’t speak to me anymore, not after what happened with our family . . . . well, I’m sure you’ve heard.” She sighed softly, “I just want to know if he’s okay . . . you know, he is my little cousin after all.” The way she spoke was strange. Bellatrix Black never hesitated, she was never unsure of what she was about to say. But this was just acting, and if she had played her part just right, Lloyd would never know the difference.
And with that, she picked up another trophy and began to slowly polish it. She was dying to laugh at the ludicrous idea that she actually wanted to associate with her cousin. But this was where her self-control was about to be tested. Laughing now would ruin the whole plan.
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Post by lloydhoratioirving on May 14, 2012 16:01:57 GMT
The poor thing! She was so worried about Sirius! She really seemed to be upset and concerned over it all! Lloyd looked away, unable to meet her gaze anymore. "I....I don't know." He said slowly, battling within himself, should he tell Bellatrix what he'd heard or not? He wasn't sure. He bit his lip and then sighed "Okay....since you're concerned about him and all." He ran a hand through his hair and then leaned back to think for a moment.
Lloyd's brown eyes narrowed as he thought back to the things he'd overheard, ".........You don't really......care." He finally said after a nearly five minutes of silent thought, "....If you did....you'd have talked to him yourself a long time ago. You're all....mean to him because he ain't like the rest of you. He's....different....he's.....good."
He looked over at Bellatrix, having finally figured it out, "I ain't gonna tell you anything you don't already know. Like....like how he doesn't like ya.....and he doesn't....like being treated the way you all treat him and....and how he's living with James now! Family is supposed to stick together!" He said firmly, "It don't matter if Sirius doesn't want to treat muggleborns like me as if I weren't anything but a pile of shit!" He snapped, "He's still family! He's still blood."
"So he hates you guys and he don't trust you at all! Can you blame him? One wrong move and bang! You're treating him like he did something terrible! He's scared to even talk to his own brother and he's scared of you!" What Lloyd didn't realize, was that he was unwittingly telling Bellatrix everything she wanted to know. He scowled and stood up, marching over to the far of the room, he sat down "I did all the work so you do the rest of the trophies! You wasn't hurt or nothin'." he hissed, it had finally dawned on him but by now it was too late, far too late.
As he sat there, he had his back to Bellatrix, swirling his finger on the floor in circles, trying to keep his mind off things. It reminded him strongly of Raine and Genis' story, how they'd be betrayed and abandoned by their own family and he considered telling Genis, just so he'd have someone to talk to who understand the same pain he was going through. "You all suck." He grumbled, "....'Cept Sirius. He's actually decent." he added, keeping his back to Bellatrix.
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Post by BELLATRIX DRUELLA BLACK on May 26, 2012 22:55:40 GMT
For one moment, Bellatrix thought it had worked. At Lloyd’s agreement, she couldn’t help but let a satisfied smirk appear on her face. This was it. Once again she had successfully manipulated somebody into doing exactly what she wanted them to do. She pushed the trophy she had been cleaning to one side; there was no need to pretend to do her share of the work now. She practically had Lloyd wrapped around her little finger. It was an incredibly addicting feeling to be able to manipulate people that easily.
But the smirk was soon wiped off her face. Her eyes narrowed and her expression got steadily darker as Lloyd continued his rant. But it was only momentary. The smirk was back within a few minutes, it seemed Lloyd’s anger had caused him to let a few things slip. So Sirius was scared of her? Interesting. Well that was definitely something she could use against him. Bella watched Lloyd as he stormed off across the room. Typical Gryffindor, so temperamental and impulsive. But she was still of the impression that she was in control of the situation.
She followed Lloyd over to his side of the room and moved around him so she stood in front of him. Arms folded across her chest, smirk prominent on her face, she was certainly an intimidating sight as she looked down at the sixth year. But that was of course her intention. “I wonder how Sirius is going to react when he finds out that you told me he’s scared of me?” Her voice was back to normal, the cold and harsh tone she normally spoke with was present. “Would you like to find out?” she laughed coldly. The question was rhetorical, she didn’t expect an answer from Lloyd.
She walked around him slowly, her heels echoing on the marble floor, adding to the dramatic effect. This was what she was good at, making others feel intimidated. If nothing else, this was her talent. “So let’s make something clear Irving. You’re going to clean the rest of the trophies. And when you’re finished, you’re going to leave this room. And you won’t be telling anybody about this detention. Because I’ll be watching you Irving, you can be sure of that.” Already, plans were forming in her head, the possibilities were endless. Having a Gryffindor she could manipulate to carry out certain tasks could definitely prove useful. “Now, have I make myself perfectly clear?” Her wand in this situation was deeply missed, threats were so much easier to make when you could point a wand, but she’d just have to hope her words were enough. After all, she was Bellatrix Black.
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Post by lloydhoratioirving on Jun 7, 2012 19:38:09 GMT
At first, Lloyd looked confused, and then it slowly started to dawn on him and he groaned, striking himself on his brow with an open palm. How could he have been so stupid?! After all that, after all the effort he'd put into not telling Bellatrix anything and he did anyway without even realizing it! He wasn't even supposed to hear what Sirius had talked about with James. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It had all started when he was doing his homework, he'd dropped all his books and his papers and while he was cleaning up, Sirius and James walked in, failing to see him. Lloyd couldn't help but overhear and he would have made a break for it, but then they'd have seen him and to be honest, Lloyd really didn't want to face their wrath if they thought he was spying on them.
He watched Bellatrix walking closer and had to resist the urge to step back as she came toward him. She was creepy to say the least. She had a .....look in her eyes sometimes that said she wasn't all there. Still, as she ordered him about once again, he gave a frown. He'd already done most of the work all on his own and the trophies Bellatrix had cleaned were half-ass at best! He'd be stuck here all night and she might just return with her wand and lock him in!
"........No." He said firmly, "I'll keep quite about the detention....but I'm not your slave. I ain't a house elf you can order around." He headed for the door, "And if you think Sirius is scared of you, go ahead and try to intimidate him. I might've been telling the truth and I might not have." He bluffed, opening the door just enough to peek out and check that the coast was clear. It was.
He looked back at Bellatrix, brown eyes staring into hers, "Have a nice night." He said with a smile, intending on killing her with kindness. And away he went, heading off toward Filch's office to get his wand back and to tell him how Bellatrix had tricked him doing most of the work and then tried bullying him into doing the rest.
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