Closed Punishing Palmistry PV George Henry

The fact that it was even a rule that students had to respect prefects was absurd. For one thing, George hadn't actually noticed that Bubba had become a prefect, as he tended to ignore appointments outside of his own house that got announced during breakfast. And besides that, wasn't respect something that was earned, rather than freely given? He respected some of the professors who merited it, without needing to be given detention besides that. It was hardly even disrespect to laugh at someone who was stuck in a trick step - that was the cost of being helped out.

"You are such an actual idiot," said George, clutching the letter from Bubba in his fist. The parchment was crumpled up into a little ball, compressed by the force of young Mr. Henry's indignant rage. He'd already gotten 'swimming in the lake' on his record just for standing in the water, and was now going to be booked for disrespecting a prefect when in fact he went to bat for his own house's prefects on a fairly regular basis.

The teenager stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes when he saw the materials that had been put in place for the detention. Two cups of tea, some kind of silver box, and a teapot were all prepared... was Bubba going to poison him? He wasn't sure just how far that the Ravenclaw was willing to go after being disrespected. From their past encounter, George had assumed the younger boy had a good sense of humor, although that might've gone out the window once he had a prefect badge affixed to him. It was like they enchanted those things to transfigure you into an idiot the moment it pierced your robes.

Assuming that the empty seat was for him, he promptly walked over and took it, setting his own bag down on the floor beside the chair. He glanced down at the pot of tea and cups, eyes scanning briefly over the mysterious silver case. It begged to be opened, but he figured that high honor would go to the prefect, since it was apparently such a big deal to respect them.

George lifted up his balled up fist and tossed his crumpled letter over the table so that it would strike Bubba harmlessly in the forehead if he failed to dodge. "Knobhead," he grunted. What was he going to do, give him a double detention? They were already both wasting their Saturday on this tea party. "What exactly is this, by the way? Is this your way of trying to get me to go to tea with you, because I'm afraid I've already got someone in mind for the Fall Ball, and it certainly isn't you, McGarry."

As George walked in with a surly look on his face Bubba thought he was just absolutely adorable. Was this destined to be their friendship? Bubba summoning George to hang out using false pretenses because he wasn't cool enough to be hung out with on his own? It was a sad state of affairs. Bubba just wished he were cooler, then again being named a prefect probably made him infinitely less cool. Still, what was the point of having the power if you aren't going to have a little fun with it?

George became considerably less adorable when he chucked the balled-up piece of paper at Bubba's head and called him a knobhead. Bubba had seen it coming so he lazily caught it as if it was perfectly normal to have balled-up pieces of paper flying at his head. If George didn't watch it Bubba might actually give him a real detention. Still, he couldn't blame George for being miffed, he remembered how annoyed he'd been when Sam gave him a real detention.

Bubba gave him a wry smile as he asked if this was his way of trying to get George to go to the Fall Ball with I'm. "Sorry to disappoint you Georgie boy but you're not really my type." He finished with a smirk before continuing, "No this is just continuing the tradition of my luring you to places under false pretenses." He said with a rogueish look on his face before continuing on, "You can't deny that this is way better than the dungeons."

Bubba poured a cup of tea for each of them, it was still quite hot which was good, he was too lazy to put it on the fire again. He took a sip before continuing on, feigning being serious, "You know if you would've just hung out at camp I wouldn't have had to get you here like this. But not, I guess I'm just not cool enough for a fancy pants broom racer like yourself." He finished the statement with a sad, forlorn look on his face.

He picked up the silver case and gazed at it intently for a few minutes before he said anything else. Every few moments he would rotate it in his hands as he ran his fingers over the edges. He was just trying to build suspense, just waiting until George just burst at the seams and asked, 'WHAT'S IN THE BOX?'

Finally, he put it back down and had another sip of tea before continuing on, "The question is, now that I have you here, what do I do with you?"

Interacting: George Henry Mentioning: N/A

George sneered as Bubba caught the piece of parchment flying toward his head. Bubba insisted that George wasn't his type, though George wasn't entirely sure he believed it. He spent some time combing his fingers through his hair to get it to fall right, either way. Whether he was his type or not, he wanted Bubba to know that he was far out of his league. Bubba went on, explaining that this was another trick, like luring him to the dungeons. He might've been worried, had this not gone well before. Although, this time there was the mysterious box to contend with.

The Hufflepuff waited for Bubba to take the first sip before he moved to pick up his cup, swishing it gently and smelling the steam wafting from the surface. It didn't smell funky, like a potion might have. It sort of just smelled like Earl Grey. Hoping that he wasn't going to start vomiting or pass out, he sipped his tea along with Bubba, watching him carefully to see if he slipped himself an antidote or something.

"Did you even try and talk to me at camp?" George wondered. It was true he had been practicing a lot, considering his rapid ascent from "dabbling flyer" to "broom racing captain" had taken place over a period of about three months. He was unsympathetic to Bubba's forlorn look, apparently considering the blame primarily on Bubba. "You could just talk to me like a normal person instead of sending weird letters luring me into places. The novelty has worn off, slightly."

He clenched his jaw, staring daggers at Mr. McGarry, though his sour mood faded a bit as his eyes wandered back to the mysterious box. It looked a bit like some of his own self-grooming kits, but George doubted that Bubba was interested in having a makeup party. He seemed like the kind of boy who would freak out at the idea of having any makeup applied to him at all. Like Narcissus gazing into his reflection, the Ravenclaw seemed to really enjoy turning the box over so he could stare at himself through every shiny silver surface.

"First off, you could stop caressing your little makeup kit, that would be wonderful," George said, deliberately denying the other boy the satisfaction of knowing that George was really quite curious about what might've been in there. "Or better yet, just open it, because it's obviously why you lured me here in the first place. Unless you really did have no plan at all, in which case... knobhead."

Bubba gave George a playful smirk as he admonished him for not just coming to him at camp. The truth was Bubba had been a bit overwhelmed at camp, he had basically signed up for every activity (except the biathlon - physical activity that wasn't on a broom? gross) and it was just a little too much for him. Still, he wasn't going to tell George that, because that just seemed like no fun whatsoever. Instead, he playfully replied, "I mean me, a lowly second-year, waitlisted broom racer, man I was just afraid I'd ruin your street cred. I thought I was being kind." He was entertained by George being mad about him luring him to the classroom under false pretenses. "I mean at least it's only worn off slightly," he said with a shrug, "And if you want I can actually make it a detention, have you do lines or some boring nonsense like that."

He took in George's act of trying to be tough and angry. It was laughably transparent but Bubba didn't want to be rude. Instead, he just sat there, twirling his little box in his hands. It was a nice, tactile sensation that he probably got a little too much enjoyment out of. As he ran the box through his hands, Bubba noticed how gross and grubby his fingernails were. He was glad he had brought the kit because summer camp had not been good for his grooming habits. He was happy to be back in a place more civilized, where he could properly bathe daily.

George called him a knobhead again, imploring him to open the kit. He decided to keep him in suspense for a few moments longer. "Whatever do you mean? No plan at all?" He nodded towards the tea they were enjoying, "I made tea for you, I thought this would be fun!" He lifted the box slightly to indicate he was talking about it, "And I think this would be right up your street."

He decided the moment for suspense was over, "It's not a makeup kit," he said as he showed George his grubby fingers. Silently, he opened the box and methodically placed each item on the desk. There were nail clippers, cuticle scissors, cuticle pushers, cuticle cream, lotion, and a nail file. "Your punishment... for insulting me so gravely... is to give me... a manicure." He sighed sadly, "Because summer camp was not kind to my nails."

Interacting: George Henry Mentioning: N/A

George rolled his eyes again. A lowly second-year, true enough, but he'd never really had disdain for the younger years beyond the usual amount of skepticism about the fresh first-years. By second year, they had really settled in, and could be expected to act as proper Hogwarts students as much as anyone else.

"I haven't got street cred, Bubba... this is a boarding school," George said. While it was a public school, there was still something prestigious and exclusive about attending a boarding school in a literal castle. It made George feel quite posh, and posh people didn't have street cred, they had reputations. George's reputation was already muddy, whether Bubba wanted to dirty it up or not. "If you want to be my friend, you can. I don't know why people think I'm so unfriendly."

Maybe it had something to do with how he spent most of his time hanging out with his Hufflepuff peers, and the rest of the time with his nose in a book looking like he'd rather be left alone. "You signed up for broom racing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He let out a pleased hum and nodded his head, finally gracing Bubba with a smile now that he'd heard that. He hadn't had much opportunity to meet their racers aside from the captain, Aurora, who he only knew had rather cool hair. There was on he knew decently well, however, and thought to warn Bubba about. "It's a good sport. You'll be on the team with Bloom... she's not going to find you very funny."

George sipped the tea as it was indicated to him again. It was a nice gesture. He quite liked it when people prepared tea for him, as he so often had to be the one to do it for himself. "That is very sweet of you," George noted clinically. When Bubba said the box would be right up his street, George's suspicions were confirmed. It had to be some kind of makeup kit. That was what he was known for most of all, aside from his academics and broom racing - he was the boy who wore makeup! At least sometimes. To some people.

But Bubba immediately crushed George's hopes by revealing the true contents of the box before he opened it. George's hopeful smile dropped into a frown as he said it was not a makeup kit. But as consolation, it was still something grooming related, and George recognized every piece of kit present in the little manicure box. "Did your parents give you this stuff?" he wondered. He'd never dared ask his mom to buy him makeup, though he often stole it. "Are you a regular for manicures?"

The boy was happy to suffer his detention, reaching out to take Bubba by the hand. He recoiled instantly at the sight of the boy's fingernails. "Did you spend your summer trying to tunnel to China by hand?" he wondered. Had Bubba been digging too? He looked up and gave him a suspicious look, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't acting any different, so it wouldn't have been that sort of digging, George hoped. Still, he kept in mind the location of the various tools in the kit, in case he needed to improvise something for self-defense.

"This is grim." George decided that the first step was beyond the capacity of the nail kit, and reached into his robe to draw his wand. He held the other boy's fingers together and went by each nail one by one with a soft 'scourgify,' leaving the dirty fingernails clean and cool. But clean wasn't the standard for a manicure, so he tucked his wand away again and got to work trimming the boy's nails down to size, keeping it far away from his tea to ensure there'd be no errant shrapnel.

"This beats a regular detention, Bubba. Besides... you saw my last detention, do you really think I want another one of those?" he asked, with a wry smirk and a shrug of his shoulders. He felt comfortable joking about it with Bubba after their conversation in the dungeons, suspecting that he didn't need to be embarrassed about what had gone down, even if the mention did fire up some lingering resentment for Alan and June. "You really need to take care of yourself... have you considered bathing?"

Bubba gave George an eye-roll of his own when George said he had no street cred. This was just not true as far as Bubba could tell. He was known as being equal parts troublemaker and cool broom racer. It was not the worst street cred to have, at least people thought he was cool. Bubba wasn't really sure what people thought of him. Probably now they'd just assume he was a stuck-up prefect because of the badge, which was definitely not true. He figured he was only going to stop the real rule breakers, not harmless pranksters.

Bubba wished there was some chance of him getting on the Ravenclaw broom racing team but honestly, he didn't see it happening anytime soon. Everyone seemed very committed and he wasn't even first in line. Still, he was content to wait, these people couldn't stick around forever, and surely they'd want to try another sport sometime. "Yeah I signed up, I'm on the waitlist thought so who knows when I'll actually get to race." He said with a shrug laced with disappointment, "I don't know Bloom but I'm sure we'll get on fabulously."

"Don't mention it," he said with a smile as he took another sip of tea himself. "I prefer iced coffee but I don't think they want the pupils to have coffee so I have to settle for tea." It was true, try as he might he couldn't find any iced coffee in the Great Hall. He could only assume it was because they didn't want the kids bouncing off the walls in a caffeine rush. It was still frustrating, at least give some to the prefects since they have to deal with these little shits when the professors aren't looking.

"I am a regular for manicures," Bubba said in response to George's question. "I'm surprised you wouldn't just assume that given the obsessive amount of time I put into my appearance. I always try to look correct." Bubba put a ridiculous amount of effort into his appearance. He always made sure his really nice clothes were pressed, everything was clean, and he groomed himself obsessively. "No, I haven't been digging for China!" Bubba said defensively, a little offended. "You know there were actually activities at camp, right? Like that involve running around and all sorts of things."

A moment later Bubba was truly offended by a combination of factors. First, George felt the need to use scourgify on his hands. "Ok, that seems a bit excessive, they're just in rough shape from camp." Then, though, George really crossed the line... by suggesting the he didn't bathe. He scowled at George and yanked his hands away, "How dare you! I bathe every day. I'm so happy to be back in civilization where I can bathe properly!" The idea that he didn't bathe, the sheer nerve. "Well, if you're going to be like that I can round up some first years..."

Interacting: @George Henry Mentioning: N/A

"As fabulously as you get on with everything else, I suppose," said George. He was sure that if Bubba ever raced with Bloom, she would quickly tell him all about how immature and smelly he was, so it wasn't like the warning was necessary. For a brief moment, things were pleasant. He was enjoying tea with an acquaintance who was quickly becoming a friend, if a slightly annoying one. "Professor Wickham-Deakin has coffee in her office, you might be able to convince her to give you some. Or if you get into the kitchens, the house elves would get some for you, probably. Though, I wouldn't ask for iced coffee... they don't like complicated orders."

The elves might have worked for Hogwarts, but it surely wasn't the students who were paying their cheques, based on the appalling service that George received on his first and only adventure into the castle's kitchens. It did smell absolutely wonderful in there, however. In fairness, the poor service may simply have been a result of asking how the elves held their heads up despite having such spindly little necks.

"Hm," George said, looking up at Bubba as he claimed to be not only a regular for manicures, but someone who put a lot of thought into his appearance. An obsessive amount. George was quite generous with his time when it came to looking after his looks, but even he did not consider his half-hour long beauty routine to be even bordering obsessive. And from the skeptical look on his face, he did not think that Bubba really did care all that much about how he looked.

"Yeah, sure. I wouldn't really know - I didn't sign up for anything, I was busy with practicing for the broom race, then doing the broom race, then..." Then, making up with Jake, having a breakdown with Jack, embarrassing himself in front of Hugh, and causing trouble with Alec. He really did turn into quite the socialite when he didn't have work to do, even if half of those adventures were just him embarrassing himself in front of his peers. George remembered one activity in particular, suddenly looking up at Bubba with grave concern. "Did you end up at that game of spin the bottle? One of the girls had mono, so, if you got any kisses, you might want to see the nurse."

Of course, mono was a muggle disease, and he didn't believe that 'lips turning dark' was one of the symptoms. If Bubba had caught a kiss from Marion, it would likely be more apparent on his face. Still, George couldn't help but worry... he had a protective streak when it came to his friends, particularly the younger, more vulnerable sort. Despite all his bravado, Bubba was no match for most of the threats that came through Hogwarts. Especially considering his history with fire.

"Okay, I'm just making sure they're clean before I do anything. Don't be so sensitive," George huffed, before those delicate, manicured hands were tugged away from him. George folded his arms. He didn't know what he expected - if he was going to hang out with so many first and second years, he had to get used to handling tantrums again. He just had to keep bringing up that detention - hardly fair. Bubba knew how difficult that had been. Difficult enough to get Professor Henry to come down to the dungeon for his own private pity party.

"Is that right? How about I round you out one of these windows?" George said, almost shouting. He didn't realize it, but he'd already risen about halfway out of his seat, looking nearly ready to jump over the table and just start slapping the snot out of Bubba's snooty little face. But he soothed himself with slow, deep breaths, settling down into his seat. Hitting people never solved anything... there were jinxes that could do that much more elegantly. "Quit being a baby and give me your hand so I can file your nails, they're uneven. You'll end up clawing someone with how jagged they are. You've got hag claws."

Bubba gave George a very quizzical look, "Complicated? What the hell is complicated about iced coffee? You take a goblet, put some coffee in it, and then put ice in the coffee. You really think with all the feasts they put on they can't handle iced coffee?" He finished with a laugh, it just seemed silly, it's not like he was asking for a five-course meal, it was just coffee with ice. If he could manage it surely creatures more magical than him could figure it out. He tore himself away from his own internal monologue to continue, "I don't know Professor Wickham-Deakin, I doubt she'd want random students raiding her office for coffee."

"How'd the races go?" Bubba asked absent-mindedly as he watched George work on his nails, "I didn't get to any sadly, by the time I did my five thousand activities I was exhausted, I made it to the Ravenclaw-Durm quidditch match but that was about it." As George asked about his experience in twirl the flagon Bubba went a little bit pale but tried to cover and powered through. "Twirl the flagon... hoo boy..." He began with a shiver, He still hadn't quite recovered. "So... you remember your detention when we first met?" He wasn't sure where to begin so he just went on, "I learned during my time in twirl the flagon that I said some uhh... inappropriate... things to June Selwyn after I heard your story.... which... I did not remember saying." He paused awkwardly for a moment before continuing, "However, she did, and she told her friend Maggie. Maggie was... err... kind enough... to tell me... after she slapped me a couple of times." He finished the last part rather quickly before adding, "So that's how my twirl the flagon went."

After that, he went quiet for a little bit. The memory still lingered after the bruises had faded. He still felt the shame of what he'd said. He hadn't been himself but that hadn't made him feel any better. To say what he'd said to her, he wouldn't say that to his worst enemy. Hell, he was afraid of casting incendio. He still couldn't believe he'd said something like that. But he had, and he had to live with it.

"Hag claws? HAG CLAWS?" Bubba said in faux outrage. They were bad but they weren't that bad. "Don't be such a drama queen."

He had one thing he wanted to ask George but he wasn't sure if he should. Bubba seemed like a bit of a gossip but he hoped he'd show some discretion. He decided he had to ask so he could just understand what was going on. "Listen, this is going to sound a bit weird but... well maybe you can explain something to me." He gulped and continued, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous about it, "You know Sam Salwis? Ravenclaw prefect a year above me?" He began, taking a sip of tea with his free hand, "She's been acting really weird around me and I'm trying to figure out why." He tried to say it all without spewing verbal diarrhea. "So I got thrown into the lake at the end of last term. She came by and she got super flustered when I got of the lake and was just like 'oh my god'. Then she gave me detention for it even though she knew I was the victim. Then in the detention she paid like.. an abnormal amount of attention to me. Then when I saw her in the prefects carriage on the way to school she went all red and got super flustered... I dunno the girl that pushed me into the lake said she 'liked' me... but if she liked me why the hell would she put me in detention?"

Interacting: @George Henry Mentioning: @Samantha Salwis

George became flustered when pressed about the complexity of an iced coffee. He'd only ever seen adults buying them at the mermaid coffee place in London, so he didn't realize the recipe was simply coffee and ice. It also brought to mind the complex desserts he'd asked for when he first found out where the kitchens were... he did a terrible job making a first impression with those elves. "Fine, fine! Go and get your ice coffee! Just don't come crawling to me when they levitate you out on your arse with an apple stuffed in your mouth."

Further compounding his frustration, Bubba began prying into the results of the summer broom races. Surely if he was actually curious, he could have simply looked the score up, or asked somebody? Was he being intentionally obtuse? That did seem like a Bubba sort of thing to do. From their brief interactions, he had a generally stupid way of going about things, and he didn't seem ashamed of that in the slightest. George took a deep breath in through his mouth, then out through his nose. He wasn't about to explain to the new head of house how he got detention for punching a prefect of Ravenclaw.

"How'd you guys do against the Durmstrangers?" George wondered, looking up from his work. His grip on Bubba's hand had gotten somewhat painful at this point, the older boy not realizing that he was clutching the Ravenclaw's fragile little bird hands so tightly from the stress.

"June?" George repeated back, surprised to hear her name from Bubba. "...What did you say to her? You got slapped multiple times? Hm... I should've signed up, maybe I could've given you a couple of slaps on her behalf. Then again, there's always more chances for that."

The only time George had been assaulted by another student, he had to admit he deserved it. But bringing that memory to mind with Bubba around made him start to squirm, remembering their talk in the dungeons, remembering the smoke and his bare feet on the freshly-fixed floor. He stared off into the middle distance for a few moments before blinking it away, forcing his thoughts elsewhere. "I am not a drama queen," he grumbled. "I am just your only honest friend. Hufflepuff's honor!"

The boy relaxed somewhat, able to focus his thoughts instead on more pleasant thoughts, like smoothing out the boy's nails. He cleared away some of the debris, smoothing those hag claws down to a nice finish with his file, contemplating how they might look with a bit of paint on them once the clean-up was done. "Your nails are very healthy..." he hummed, hardly listening until Bubba started to name names. Sam Salwis? Her name was funny-sounding, so he thought he would remember her if they'd met. "Don't know her... weird how?"

George nodded along with his explanation. Another victim of the lake. Paying a lot of attention to someone, luring them in through an unjust detention. "Oh, that's familiar, isn't it..." he hummed, with a pointed look toward Bubba. And then he went and revealed the twist - she just said that she liked him? Where's the romance, the chase? What terrible writing! "Okay, well, maybe she likes you? I thought Ravenclaw was the smart house. If she says she likes you, and she's blushing just at the sight of you, she might have a crush on you. But what do I know? I'm not an expert."