Hypocrisy pv: Althea Valden Closed

Althea sighed dejectedly, combing a hand through her unruly chocolate brown hair to try and force the locks back into neatness. She had been suffering from a series of nightmares the previous night, and when she woke up early this morning, drenched in cold sweat and shivering, she decided to give up on sleeping altogether and head up for an early breakfast.

These nightmares had been a problem since 'The Great Push' that happened a few days ago. Hanako Tone, a Slytherin that she thought rather highly of at first, had nicely and gently pushed her into the dirty and freezing Great Lake when they had an argument, resulting in nightmares about her drowning in the Great Lake as mermaids ate her like a snack. Despite knowing in the land of dreams and in the world of the living that she herself could speak the language of mermaids, words obviously did not matter if you were being eaten alive.

So, due to her new habit of being an early riser, with a charms textbook in hand and uniform hanging over her short frame, Althea dragged herself to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast before heading to her first class. Althea's eyes flickered across the Great Hall. She saw a few students loitering around the huge hall, some eating breakfast while others simply chatted with their friends. She hummed half-heartedly when she spotted some of her favourite breakfast foods on the table, heading over to the Hufflepuff Table when she spotted a certain Slytherin from the corner of her eye. She craned her neck backwards.

Sure enough, Althea saw Hanako Tone sitting at his table, eating breakfast. Alone. She felt strangely guilty as she watched the Slytherin drink his orange juice like a exhausted office worker drinking his coffee. If only she had not come to their little meet-up at the Great Lake that day, maybe their friendship would have lasted longer. Long enough to keep him company today during breakfast.

After a good five minutes of creepy staring, Althea mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do and started heading towards Hanako. She made sure to take the long way around the table so she could plop right next to him and give him a nice surprise. Talk to him and maybe tease him for a while as they ate, acting as if nothing happened between them. A small bit of revenge for the trouble he caused when he pushed her that day. Lake stench was something she will neither forget nor want to experience again.

Althea finally made it behind Hanako, quietly approaching the table. She then slided her textbook onto the table and sat down next to Hanako, starting to pile her plate with the food she wanted. Few minutes later, she decided to kick-start this soon-to-be-a-mess breakfast chit-chat session. She resisted the urge to laugh as she saw some orange juice on the boy's face from his early sip of the juice. As she reached for a glass of water, Althea started the conversation with two simple statements.

"Good morning, Tone. You look rather manly with orange juice dribbling onto your chin."

@Hanako Tone

Honestly, he wasn’t even surprised at the turn of events. Drowsily, he glared at the newcomer as he used the hem of his sleeves to wipe whatever was under his mouth, setting the orange juice back on the table with enough force to make a slight thump sound -he wasn’t pleased.

“ Silly me to expect you’d be capable of taking a hint “ he grumbled, his loss of appetite increasing by the second. This newcomer was the one that threw a book at him for running away, he would be extra dumb to think all it took was a push in the great lake to make her leave. Her persistence never failed to impress him but this was getting stupider by the second. “ Lovely to hear from you again, Valeden. Had a good swim? “. He sarcastically said without even glancing at her, eyes on his food again as he tried his best to pretend she wasn’t there. It was weird seeing the one you pushed in a cold freezing lake suddenly appear in front of you without threatening to sue. Been there done that. In fact, it was a mere banter as it always had been before the lake incident.

“ You know..” he started, eyes still glued to his food. “ I’ve heard wizards have this spell thingy called a memory charm. Kinda makes someone lose their memory. By any chance, have you been hit by a spell-like this recently? I don’t have any other logical explanations as to why you decided to show up “. A humorless weak laugh escaped his mouth. “ And they say I’m the dumb one.” His sentence seemed like he was his normal self, but it lacked his default playful demeanor, turning into more of a cold response as he nonchalantly continued chewing on his food seeming half interested in what she had to say. Hanako was never a cold person despite how he wished it to be like that. Perhaps if he was, he would’ve easily hexed her until she finally got the message. It was troublesome, honestly. However, he couldn’t deny the small curiosity as to what kind of things she had to say. She could’ve easily pulled out her wand and hexed him for all he knows, and that was possibly the most positive outcome he could think of at the moment.

As soon as Althea spoke, she saw Hanako's immediate displeasure. Althea stiffled a laugh when he saw Hanako use his sleeve to wipe his chin. The boy then slammed his glass of orange juice back on the table, hard enough to make a loud thud. Althea resisted the urge to comment on the fact that the table deserved respect too. "Silly me to expect you’d be capable of taking a hint," Hanako grumbled. "I got your point, Tone. But you are so... attractive that I couldn't resist but come back," Althea quickly shot back at him with a bitter undertone. She honestly had no idea who invented these snarky responses and how it was coming out of her mouth. She realised Hanako Tone was the second to her childhood enemy when it comes to bringing out the worse in her.

"Lovely to hear from you again, Valeden. Had a good swim?" Hanako asked casually with obvious sarcasm, not making eye-contact with her as he went back to eating and minding his own business. Althea shivered at the mention of the 'The Great Push', remembering what led her to the Great Hall in the first place. "No, not really," Althea mumbled without an ounce of sarcasm, "But my brain seems to love you and your push, because that's all I see at night." She reached for an apple in a fruit bowl on the table, listening to the awkward sounds of chewing between Hanako and herself.

"You know..." Hanako started, eyes still glued to his food. Althea hummed, telling him that she was listening. "I’ve heard wizards have this spell thingy called a memory charm. Kinda makes someone lose their memory. By any chance, have you been hit by a spell-like this recently? I don’t have any other logical explanations as to why you decided to show up." A humorless weak laugh escaped Hanako's mouth. Althea continued eating. "And they say I’m the dumb one." Althea choked on her apple when she tried to cover her laugh. "Sadly, Tone, no. No one acknowledges and notices me enough to bother taking out their wand to cast the charm on me," Althea replied, giving a forced laugh.

"I am sorry for making you upset at the Great Lake. After Alex left, I am kind of desperate. Sorry," Althea added softly, bracing herself for Hanako's reaction.

@Hanako Tone