Strollin' PV Max Avery Finished

It was always the corridors, wasn't it? Every time he walked down one, there seemed to be some annoying Hufflepuff floating around in their little fairy-worlds where everything was great and mean people didn't exist. Max was trying to learn to let his anger at that go, but it was difficult when he kept running into people he'd sworn to mess with if he saw again. If he had to pick one good trait about himself, it would be that he always kept his word. Regardless of how much it hurt him or someone else.

Today he wasn't even in a bad mood - he was doing alright with his grades, he'd found a couple of close friends in Dorian and Aubren, and he wasn't at home. Three wonderful facts that made the world seem better, though he wasn't stupid enough to think any sort of happiness would last. Grades could drop, friends could leave, home hovered on the horizon, and sometimes you ran into people you had to bully for the sole fact that you told them you would.

"Wow," he sighed, his voice laced with sarcasm as he paused in the archway leading into the corridor. "I'm so surprised that you're in here taking up space other people need." Her giggles had annoyed him - clearly she'd learned nothing from the first time they'd met. Was it really his fault that if she wore her heart on her sleeve, someone would come along and break it? "Tell me... is there any actual use for you in this world or is your whole existence to just pointlessly waste space?"

Rosie's skips came to a halt when she heard his voice. She let out a small groan before muttered, "Mother of GOD." She turned slowly to him with a forced, strained smile. "Hello again." She said, strangely sweet, but it was laced with bitterness. There was nobody who made her mad like this kid. Nobody who grinded her gears like this smug, tiny boy. If it weren't for her morals, she would've tackled him to the ground already. Instead, she decided to take a more.. Friendly approach. She walked up to the boy and managed a nice little grin. "I think I have a right to be here as much as anyone else does, though.. Considering your behavior as of late, the only place you belong is the Headmaster's office." Rosie retorted, looking up at the boy.

Rosie hated being mean, don't get her wrong, but this kid brought out another side of her. One that she didn't necessarily like to show. But in front of this kid, she didn't need to be scared.

Because her being scared is exactly what he wanted. And he wasn't going to get it, not today, not ever, Rosie was stubborn, that was something else underestimated about Hufflepuffs. They weren't all bark, that was for sure. It's a shame not a lot of people knew that.

Max frowned at her as she approached, tilting his head so he was looking down his nose at her the way he'd seen his mother do to people many times. She was slightly less annoying when she was being feisty, but she still grated against his nerves like nails on a chalk board. Her 'friendliness' laced with the kind of biting remarks he knew intimately was familiar, at least. A weak attempt - put his mother in a room with this girl for five minutes and she'd be a sobbing mess on the floor.

"I don't know what you are, but you're not a pure-blood, are you?" he asked, lip curling derisively. "Where I belong is in a prestigious group of the wizarding world's top one percent. If I went to Azkaban, I'd still have support. If I went mental, I'd still have support. If I was expelled from this school for hitting a girl like you... I'd probably get a round of applause from the family." He almost wanted her to hit him in the face, just to have an excuse. One excuse was all he needed to give her a demonstration of just how unfair life was. The top crushed the bottom; that was life. It was dog-eat-dog world, and his were a family of wolves.

"If you hit someone like me, though... What would your parents say? Maybe they'd be proud of you. Yeah, I'd bet they're just as weak since I've never seen them at any of my family's dinner parties. I hope they have retirement funds if you decide to do anything about your big words - a crazy daughter who doesn't belong in the wizarding world can have bad repercussions for people's jobs. And it's nuts how quick word-of-mouth spreads around here." He shrugged lightly. "If you want to talk big, you better be ready to play the game. I can put you on the board, if you like; making an example out of pawns isn't something I have a problem with."

Rosie seemed almost impressed. She rose her eyebrows at every comment Max said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. They didn't scare her. He didn't scare her. Not one bit. The last time Max set her off, he was being insulting to muggle bloods, and he was doing it again, but this time, Rosie didn't even feel a sting of anger in her chest. She felt... Neutral, almost disappointed that Max hadn't thought of something better. That was it? Some narcissism? Rosie rolled her eyes in the middle of her comments, she almost laughed. For once, she felt in control, she had the floor.

She wasn't the weak girl that blew up at him that first day anymore, not yet, anyway. Rosie wouldn't fight unless she was pushed far enough, which honestly, Max COULD do, but he wasn't. His words meant nothing. Some insults about her family? First of all, he didn't even know her family. She couldn't get mad over some false accusations, just... Feel bad that he couldn't come up with something better. Was it pity? Maybe. Rosie was just disappointed. After he was done, Rosie let out a hearty chuckle and tilted her head up at him, saying three, dangerous words.

"Is that it?"

Max felt like he'd genuinely done his good deed of the year when, instead of crying, the girl stood up to him. He knew as he was talking that it wasn't family that would get to her, not with the way she was reacting. That was fine; he could probe deeper if he wanted and really drag out the innards of whatever dark things were in her mind. Dark things which he now assumed she had, since she wasn't crying because someone was being mean to her. She was learning. The world wasn't a nice place.

"If I wanted to hurt you, sweetheart, you'd know it." Said with a sardonic twist of his lips, as he lifted one shoulder in the hint of a shrug. "I mean, you hang out with one of the Gryffindor boys, right? What was his name... Ana-something? Ana-ta? Ana-le? Anatole?" He knew the kid's name. "As spunky as you are, you can't sneak into the boy's dorms every night to protect him. It would be a shame if one of your friends was hurt and it was your fault."

Breaking eye contact with a casual, disapproving shake of his head, Max tucked both hands behind his back and walked past Rosie to stand in front of one of the suits of armour, pretending to admire its craftsmanship. "But I'm not an evil person. So I won't threaten that. You don't actually have anything I need, so what's the point? All I want is for you to quit being so naive and show a little realism. That's it."

You could insult pretty much anything about Rosie. Her appearance, her personality, whatever. She'd feel insecure about it later, but at a certain point, someone could find how to break her.

And that was by threatening her friends. Especially someone like Anatole.

Rosie gritted her teeth a bit, and suddenly did something unlike her. Something she didn't usually do. She grabbed Max's shirt and pulled him down to her field of vision, glaring daggers. "If-If you lay a finger on him, I swear to god-" She sneered, gripping tightly. "Our relationship is OUR problem, not his, you understand that? He will not be involved." Rosie shoved him off, basically by now asking for a fight. She dared him too, honestly. Rosie was sticking up for herself.

"I know how this world is, it sucks. And you make it worse by existing!" Rosie snapped, pointing at him. She almost said something really mean, but Rosie was already on a bad streak, at this point she might as well been asking to be punched. "My thoughts on the world isn't your dumb issue, so you can just leave me alone about it. Narcissism seems to be your thing, isn't it? Just keep with that instead of trying to bring me down."

Max stared blankly at the little girl as she grabbed him, allowing himself to be tugged down. They were close enough that he could probably count the pores on her skin, distinguish every eyelash if he chose. It made his skin crawl, the base of his neck prickling all the way up to the top of his skull with the discomforting feeling that if he didn't do serious damage to her right now, he was going to learn a world of hurt. He forced himself to remain completely still, tightly coiled as a snake about to strike.

When she finally released him and shoved him back, the slight pain from her shove was almost a welcome relief. He watched her warily as she ranted on, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he made a chiding cluck under his breath like a disappointed grandmother. "Yes, yes, we've already established that my existence contributes something to this world - negative is still something - and yours doesn't."

He didn't bother answering the narcissism comment; he was all too aware of his flaws to be a true narcissist. He just... used those flaws to his advantage. Words weren't something that could hurt him. Hands, however, were. "But you clearly weren't listening. If you were, you'd have heard me say that I won't threaten Anatole despite the fact that I could. It's unfortunate, because now I feel obligated to threaten him. Have you ever heard of the mark of Cain? It's in most versions of the Bible; Cain was an evil guy. The first murderer, if you go for believing in that sort of thing. He was marked so that any harm that happened him to would come back sevenfold to whatever harmed him."

Max had been casually fixing his robes from the wrinkled state they'd been in, but for the next comment he looked Rosie straight in the eye. "Consider me an upgraded Cain. Maybe I even killed someone - who knows? All you need to know is that if you ever lay so much as a finger on me again, it's coming back to Anatole seven times worse. So shove me one more time. Seven times worse than that? I'll shove him down seven flights of stairs and make sure that his landing is as hard as can be. Talk big all you want, but when it comes to getting physical... Smarten the hell up."

Rosie rolled her eyes at his comment, he was completely infuriating. Everything about him made her fume. She took in a slow breath and looked up at him again, her fists clenched. "I do mean something, actually. I-I have friends, and family, and they make me happy! I'm a capable wizard and I have something you don't, a pleasant personality! So don't come for me with your insults when the only reason you're attacking other people is cause you think your family is so great, but you're no better than an obnoxious muggle-blood! In fact, you're WORSE."

"And I don't care what you said. You THOUGHT about hurting him. Anatole's my friend! And I'm not gonna let you go around and hurt him cause this is our business. You're dragging him into something he's not involved in." She snapped.

Oh great, The Bible. He was one of those people. Rosie had never been religious, and people using it as some kinda excuse to seem better. If you were killing or hurting people in name of your ethnic beliefs, were you really apart of that religion? Certainly not worthy enough to be called a believer if you twisted your 'ruler's' words like that.

The second comment about Anatole got her. She didn't know what she'd do if she let Max hurt him. She would beat herself up about it, that was for sure. "At least I don't compare myself to some religious character that might not even be real, man." She sneered. "Just.. Don't hurt him. Anatole doesn't deserve that. Beat me up, okay? Just don't hurt him."

There was a long, drawn-out pause after Rosie finished ranting, during which Max suddenly felt extremely tired. Beat me up, okay? Just don't hurt him. There was something about those words that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and for once he had to drop his eyes first. The insults, as annoying as they were, couldn't even touch what that last line had made him feel.

"I know what you want," he muttered, hands balling into fists at his sides. He didn't want this... whatever it was that he was feeling. Dragging him into something he's not involved in. This girl had unknowingly put a knife between his ribs and twisted it, and he hated that with every fiber of his being. "I know what you all want. What you've wanted since the moment I stepped off that bloody train." Without hesitation, he drew his fist back and launched it at Rosie's face, something that could send her sprawling across the floor with her head ringing.

At the last possible second, he stopped, fist hovering a hair's breadth from her face. With a small sigh, he flicked her in the forehead and dropped his hand.

"Fine. I'll be your villain. I'll be cruel enough that you can let the side of you that you don't want to admit exists out; insult my family, insult my personality, play the part of a hero. If it makes you feel better about your dark side, tell yourself you don't enjoy trying to hurt me." He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets, moving to walk past her. Suddenly all he wanted was a really long nap, or maybe to curl up with a book in some solitary place. "I just hope for your sake that you don't truly believe you can protect your friend. The only person you can protect is yourself, so offering something for his safety is stupid. At this point, I don't need to do anything. Your thinking that way will destroy you all by itself."