Closed Crying and Crayons PV Jack B

George accepted his apology letter and folded it up neatly before slipping it into his pocket, safe and sound, although it would no doubt get a little wrinkled up in there. That and the tears would certainly create a 'distressed' quality in it that would help get across George's emotional distress.

"Don't I know it," George said, regarding the lethality of kindness. "You would have hated to be in Hufflepuff. If you find kindness brutal... the common room would be like a torture chamber with all the hugging that goes on." The boy shuddered at the thought, though he couldn't help but giggle again. Still distinctly worn out, the joking around with Jack was bringing a bit of spark back to the Hufflepuff.

Jack's wink put a bit of extra blush on George's cheeks. He wasn't sure when every single boy in his life got the sudden urge to wink. Had it only now started, or had he just never noticed it before? The idea that he was suddenly susceptible to them was more worrying than the idea that there was some sort of winking switch that had flipped in all of his friends. "Well, now I won't yell, now that I know that."

He gave Jack an odd look when he repeated his words about his pet owl. Jake was obsessed with the little guy. Cadmus liked him back - no wonder with the amount of treats he gave him. Jake was the reason why Cadmus was so fat, and probably why he struggled so much carrying the crayons. It was hard for the chunky owl to carry his own mass in addition to the gifts.

"Okay, perfect," George said as he was assured his crying would remain a secret. He took Jack's offered hand, pulling himself up with the Welshman's aid. But when talk of favors came out, George narrowed his eyes at Burnett. He was sure that the favor wouldn't be as simple as helping him with his homework or something. "...And what kind of favor might that be? I can't be getting into any trouble until at least Christmas or my parents won't give me anything... I already got about three detentions in June. Really cuts into my study time."

There was a slight pause as George scanned Jack over with his eyes again. No doubt he had the capacity for more severe schemes that releasing bludgers and nifflers on unsuspecting children. "And nothing that would get me expelled or imprisoned. The rest is fair game. If you just want me to come and give you a hug when you're crying you can have that one for free - not to sound too kind, or anything."

"Yeeeah, I don't envy you," Jack said in response to George's comment about Hufflepuff, running a hand through his already-disheveled hair. "It's one reason I'm glad to have been sorted into Slytherin. Even if I am a mudblood." He might have thought the idea of the Hufflepuff Common Room being a torture chamber of hugging would have been an exaggeration someone like him would have come up with, but if a Hufflepuff himself was verifying that as the truth, Jack was all the more glad to have escaped that fate.

"Aww, you're no fun," he laughed when the other boy said he wouldn't yell, lightly punching him in the arm. Jack smiled and spread his arms in a clueless manner when George gave him an odd look, but he said nothing. It wasn't until he had pulled George to his feet and the Scottish teen was asking him what kind of favor he wanted that he spoke again, laughing once more.

"I was joking," the redhead explained. "It's not as if I did anything to earn a favor from you anyway. And using others' weaknesses against them isn't my style. Your secret's safe with me." He cocked a brow. "Although, it is interesting to know how much trouble you get into. Three detentions in a month, huh? I wonder if that's some kind of record." Jack wondered silently how many of those detentions might have been avoided if George hadn't been fighting with Jake. Perhaps Jake might have been a good influence on George, especially now that he was a prefect. For all Jack knew, Jake might have given one or more of those detentions to George himself, though he couldn't picture it.

'Nothing that would get me expelled or imprisoned?' "Wow, now I'm really curious to know just what kind of person you make me out to be," Jack chuckled. "But I'll keep that hug in mind. Thank you." Brushing the grass off his jeans, the shorter boy looked around at their surroundings. "By the way...you want me to come with you? To go see Jake?" He glanced back at George out the corner of his eye. "Or you would you prefer to go alone?"

George's gleeful grin was snuffed out an replaced with an expression of icy contempt. Now he remembered why he'd had such a bad impression of Jack. Leader of the mudblood club. Nobody had ever called him that to his face, but still, the term made his blood run cold. He tried not to let the effect show on his face, smoothing out that lapse in smiles with a forced giggle. "Yeah," he muttered. "Right."

He rubbed his arm where it had been punched, doing his best to keep up a smile. It was as though he'd punctured a balloon he'd only just inflated. The boy who was down in the dumps had risen up and then fallen back down just as easily. Maybe he really was no fun. After all, Jack was as much of a mudblood as him, and he seemed to have no problem admitting to it.

"You helped me," George argued, in favour of owing a favour. He took a moment to see where the scales tipped, determining that his act of comfort deserved another in turn. "I owe you that hug when you need it, at the least. Just don't try and redeem it in front of anybody. We both have an image to maintain."

The Hufflepuff seemed quite proud that his amount of detentions served was impressive - or at least notable - to the other boy. George quite liked getting into trouble at Hogwarts. Even if some of the professors knew of his poor reputation, they at least knew of him. He'd take negative attention over none at all any day of the week. "It's not even a personal best," he boasted with a laugh. "I've got to rein it in now, though. They stop taking 'I didn't know' for an answer in third year. Plus, detention really starts to cut into your study time..."

He trailed off, finally feeling a hint of shame for his habits. It wasn't really brag-worthy, especially considering his last detention of that month had amounted to public shaming. "I don't know... I think you have a little bit of a reputation, don't you? I've never really been one for gossip," he said, lying outright, "so maybe I've just only ever seen you being a troublemaker. You must have some other things you do between troubles."

George pushed his tongue out against his teeth as he considered that offer. Jake liked Jack, he knew that, but he didn't want Jack to see him blubbering out an apology to his house-brother. There'd been enough blubbering for one day. "...I don't think... I'd just feel..." he said, trying to think of the most diplomatic way to say 'no' before giving up with a resigned sigh. "No, thank you."

Upon witnessing George's chilling look of contempt, Jack smile faded and he paused, trying to think what might have been the cause. It took him a moment, but he realized George might have found the term 'mudblood' offensive. "You know why I use that term, right?" Jack asked, looking mildly perplexed. He wondered who had informed George about the term being an insult and why he might have taken offense to it when it clearly hadn't been said out of malice in this context. Jack had read about the word first in his history books, but he wasn't so sure if that was the first exposure others had had to it. Personally, he'd thought the word to be laughable as an intended insult, but maybe George had his own reasons for disliking the use of it.

The Slytherin's smile returned when George warned him against trying to redeem his owed hug in front of anybody because they both had an image to maintain. That was true enough. And George's proud talk of his detentions was proof of that.

"I didn't realize you valued studying so highly," Jack commented, amused when the Hufflepuff mentioned twice that detentions cut into study time. He would have thought the main deterrent for detentions would have been having to carry out the detention sentences themselves. Maybe George was actually a good student when it came to academics.

"Maybe," he said thoughtfully when George suggested he might have had a reputation of his own. "I actually just got my first detention last year. But to be honest, with the stuff my dormmates and I have gotten away with, I'm surprised I haven't had more." He shrugged. "Maybe since Slytherins are expected to be the 'bad kids', people don't take our 'crimes' as seriously?" That or maybe his pranks and trouble-making were too insignificant to be noticed by staff and prefects. At least until recently.

Once George had given his answer to Jack's offer, Jack nodded understandingly. "Best of luck, then," he said with an encouraging grin. "Not that you'll need it."

"It's fine," George said. He was quite aware of the connotations of the term. Muggle-born prejudice was an area of particular sensitivity to George. Before he'd known he was a wizard, he'd been rather... unambitious. It was like he had completely changed. Now classes interested him, he wanted to be successful, to be admired. His mom could hardly believe the change. The idea that someone might think less of him because of his parentage made him feel sick - that all he dreamed of could be undermined and taken away. But of course, his feelings on the matter weren't going to be explained today. "Forget it."

That moment of tension blew over quickly enough. They were both back to smiling, and George even batted his eyelashes a little when Jack mentioned the value he put on studying. "I'm not a bad student, even if I am a bad student," George assured him. "Can't go failing out. Would sort of cut my wizarding career short."

George blinked in surprise when he heard that Jack received his first detention last year. Clearly the prefects were not worth the metal their badges were made of. It was no wonder, though. They even let Jake be one these days. It commanded to respect to be a prefect, at least not one selected by Professor Browne, who evidently considered it more a matter of charity than rule-enforcement. "I expect so. The Hufflepuffs get held to a high standard, I think. You can't even look at someone funny without getting a detention." Or throw anyone into the lake. "But that's the deal, I suppose. No standards, and no expectations. Must be nice..."

He paused, looking Jack over. Despite that hiccup with the 'mudblood' word, George wouldn't easily forget the kindness from the unusual Slytherin boy. "Thanks Jack," he said softly, leaning over to collect his crayons. "...I'll see you around, maybe."