July 13th, 2020

Nick's eyes opened and he was laying in his bed in Stoneywood. It's been around a month of summer break so far so Nick normally would be happy. Summer was his least favorite season but he should be happy that he didn't have school, right? Today was different though, the day where Nick wouldn't want to do anything but lay in bed and not exist.

July 13th, the day Nick's parent's divorce was finalized and his dad left, never hearing from him again, six years ago. He would just lie in bed today but he wants to be as far away from his mom today so he had to get ready and get out of the house.

Walking into the kitchen, he sees his mom with his back towards him, making some sort of drink. Furrowing his brow, Nick storms out of the kitchen and into the living room. Grabbing a handful of Floo Powder from the bowl near the fireplace. Stepping into it, he shouts, "Diagon Alley" before throwing the powder down.

As expected, he appeared out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, quickly leaving out the door. He chose Diagon Alley because it was so far away from the world he knew at home. Sure it was a town of wizards so it wasn't like no magic was permitted, but his mom wasn't really allowed to use anything more than basic magic in her house because of restrictions from the Ministry and he wasn't really close with anyone in his town.

Walking through the town, he longed to be at Hogwarts. He was tired of being in a world where everything he did was judged and he could barely use any magic at home because of his mom. Not only that but since he's gotten back he's realized how stupid his town's beliefs are. Like Mrs. Barron was complaining about her daughter dating this girl at Ilvermorny again and normally he wouldn't bat an eye but now he just wants to punch her.

Nick turned to walk through the alley between Madam Malkin's and Magical Menagerie's because he just wanted to be alone. Not really paying attention, he accidentally slams his shoulder against someone passing by him, hard. In a moment of unbridled rage, he spun around facing the person he bumped into. "What the hell dude?" he yelled, pulling the person to face him.

@Jessica Lester

"Eh heh heh heh."

Soft laughter followed the child prancing down Diagon Alley. Another early shopping trip, this time to find items of less... ethical uses than those found on the Hogwarts shopping list had been in order. The plan had been to search Knockturn Alley for anything useful to support her next year at Hogwarts. However when she got to the entrance of the alley way, a strange hook nosed man with dark, beady eyes and dressed in a ragged cloak was waiting just below a streetlamp. He had looked up, looked directly at her in such a bone chilling manner that the eleven year old girl's courage faltered and she turned around, pretending that Knockturn Alley had never been of any more than a passing interest after all.
The joke shop would surely have something. Something a little more innocent looking too.

But Jessica Lester was a girl of good decency! She'd mostly found the Weasley store disappointing. It was mostly crude toilet humour of which a good girl like her had no interest! One thing had unexpectedly caught her attention though, the store unexpectedly sold... beauty products? With good reviews?

It was a bottle of Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher, she didn't have pimples just yet but why wait? This was puberty did to girls and boys, right? Why not preempt it? Stop the plague of an unblemished face before it began!

"Eh heh heh heh..."

She let out another soft chuckle, stopping close to an alley by Madam Malkin's store to read the label on the bottle. She was going to be so pretty! Every other student would love her and be jealous! 'Oh Jessica, how are you so stunning?' They'd all simper!

'I simply am,' she would reply to them with sage wisdom and earn gasps of admiration!

So caught up in her far fetched fantasies was she, that Jessica was caught completely by surprise by a figure slamming into her back. With a squeal, she barely managed to catch the glass bottle between her finger tips, preventing her precious potion from smashing onto the street.

"What the hell dude?" An angry male Scottish voice yelled out and pulled Jessica around to face him, again almost making her drop her potion.

Her eyes narrowed at the sight. This boy had bumped into her and he thought that he was the one entitled to be upset?

"First of all dude you crashed into me," Jessica began accusingly waving her potion in the boy's face, her voice trying to stay calm but laced with venom. "Secondly you do not ever lay your hands on a girl! It's rude! You'll not make friends with an attitude like that!" She huffed the last few words and awaited the boy's apology.

Reducio

@Caelan Stewart

Focusing on the girl in front of him, Nick briefly scanned her face. He recognized her from the Slytherin common room so he knew that she was a Slytherin and therefore went to Hogwarts, obviously. He didn't think that she was in any of his classes so Nick couldn't put a name to the girl's face.

"First of all dude you crashed into me,"

He sighed. 'Great now this chick is going to go on a whole tangent over one tiny thing I said' he thought. He took a slight step back when she shoved the potion in his face. Nick scanned the label, Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher? He smirked, out of all the things you could get in Diagon Alley, she got magic pimple cream?

"Secondly you do not ever lay your hands on a girl! It's rude! You'll not make friends with an attitude like that!"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh golly gee ma'am, I guess I didn't realize I was damaging your fragile ego treating you like that. I'll be extra careful to avoid that next time I have the pleasure of bumping into to you." Nick said, widening his eyes in a condescending way before narrowing them again.

He looked at the potion again before looking up to face her again. "And just to let you know sweetheart, that potion isn't going to help with the blemish you have right... there." Nick said, moving his hand to gesture her entire face. He was in a really bad mood, he was ready to go as low as insulting a person's appearance at the drop of a hat.

Granted, the girl wasn't ugly or anything, you just got to be able to dish it out during an argument. One of the only things that he learned from his dad is that you don't have to be telling the truth about how you actually feel about a person, you just do whatever it takes to win. Looking back at it now, that probably contributed to his parent's divorce.

@Jessica Lester

He was not apologetic. Not in the slightest. His condescending tone and expression was quite the opposite of an apology.

It was enough to leave her stunned for a moment. Jessica paled, her jaw fell open just a little bit. Instinctively, she touched her face. Did she miss something? Did she have pimples? A rash? Or was he just being... mean? Why were people so horrid to her so often?

Jessica hadn't realised she was waving her potion in the boy's face and stuffed it into the small bag around her waist, blushing as she did so.

"You... How dare you?" Jessica snarled, her embarrassment and shock now taken over by anger. "I did nothing wrong! I stood here! You barged into me then yelled at me! That's what happened! I've known trolls with better manners than you!"

As she dropped her beauty potion in her bag, Jessica's fingers brushed past the wand in there. She could hex this boy for his insolence. Maybe. If she knew any hexes. Not yet but soon... The fact that she'd been absent for so much of her first year at Hogwarts was a real burden.

With a tsk, Jessica straightened up, attempting to regain some of her precious composure. She kept her hand tucked away in her bag, delicate fingers laced around her blackthorn wand just in case.

"I trust you're brave enough to give me your name," Jessica challenged the boy. "I'll need to remember it for later," she added in as ominous a tone as she could.

Nick furrowed his brow and clenched his fists, completely and utterly pissed off. Why did he put this on himself like he always does? It's the same reason he leaves the house every. single. July 13th and the same reason his mom got full custody and his dad left. His mom tries to talk about the entire situation but he just gets angry and storms off. He has to get aggressive, he has to be this toxic masculine that puts his anger before logic.

"I did nothing wrong! I stood here! You barged into me then yelled at me! That's what happened! I've known trolls with better manners than you!"

He bit his lip though and continued to argue. Even if it wasn't too late to apologize, he still hated being wrong and having to apologize. He didn't care how much he might've hurt this girl at this point, he was so fueled with anger any rational thought was just completely thrown out the window.

"Ok, I'm going to make this as blunt as possible. I don't care what you think of me. You're out here telling me how pissed you are at me and I. don't. care." Nick said rolling his eyes, "Like I don't care what I did, you're pissing me off"

Nick looked down and noticed her hand was staying in her bag and she was starting to go into a defensive stance. He sneered, thinking, 'Amusing she thinks that I'm a threat of some kind'. He always found it weird when people were afraid of him. He was aggressive, but he wasn't tall or bulky or anything.

"It's Nick. What about you? I need to make sure to avoid you in the common room." Nick said bluntly, "And I'm not going to hit you or anything. You may think me an arse but you're not worth me hurting my knuckles." His words were laced with more and more venom as time went on, he wanted to not be angry today and yet he continued verbally fighting her.

@Jessica Lester

The boy was beyond reason. This anger couldn't come from nowhere and surely she wasn't the real cause of it. Surely. But Jessica didn't much care. He had no right to treat her like this. Another wretched boy to add to her already long list of enemies. Enemies she'd have revenge on sooner or later.

"Like I don't care what I did, you're pissing me off"

"Oh you clearly don't care," Jessica snapped as he continued. He gave his name, Nick, she'd remember that. And... the common room? Her eyes narrowed slightly. He was a Hogwarts student? And in her House too?

Typical.

Since Jessica was absent for most of the school year, she wasn't too knowledgeable on the other students but he'd clearly noticed her.

"And I'm not going to hit you or anything. You may think me an arse but you're not worth me hurting my knuckles."

"Charming way to speak to a girl," she replied bitterly. He'd noticed she was feeling defensive so Jessica pulled her wand from her bag slowly, her shoulders relaxing a little bit as she did. Her words were thuggish but still somewhat reassuring that the boy wasn't going to suddenly start trying to swing punches. She twirled her wand between delicate fingers, studying it as though contemplating what to do although it was most for show. "You can hardly blame me when you've been acting such a brute."

Jessica began to pace, her initial anger, embarrassment and shock now turned to smooth, smug confidence befitting of any Slytherin. "Well I am Jessica, of House Lapis," she made sure to flash the family name. The name she wanted to be worthy of anyway. "You'll want to remember that because I'll certainly be seeing you around."

"Charming way to speak to a girl,"

This girl was clearly not getting it through her head was she? He truly did not care, at all, that she was a girl. Nick was going to treat her the same way that he would've treated anyone else in this situation. It may be rude sure and he may be taking it too far, but he stood by treating everyone equally, even if he was treating them like an arse.

"I don' care if you're th' fecking queen herself," Nick said, his accent becoming stronger as he got angrier, "I'm nae gonnae be treatin' ye nicely when you're actin' like an eejit." He flushed from embarrassment when he realized how much of his accent shone through - it's dwindled after being surrounded by Brits, Paddies, and other people that had a hard time understanding his accent for a year- but he quickly tried to play it off

"Well I am Jessica, of House Lapis,"

Nick rolled his eyes harder than he had during this entire conversation. 'Ah great this chick is one of those rich snobby purebloods.' Nick thought, looking at her smugly. He wasn't exactly informed about every single aristocrat wizarding family but the sole fact that she had said her last name using 'of House' clued him into the fact she was part of the minted class of society.

"Oh forgive me, I didn't realize I was talking to one of the high-class socialites of the world. I'll try to be less brutish just for you next time." Nick said, bowing to add a cherry on top of his plate of mockery. It really bothered him when people were so touchy during a simple argument. Back in Stoneywood, almost everyone would be bickering or arguing over something and no one would bat an eye.

@Jessica Lester