i must not-so respectfully decline an interview solo

"Paris." Xhosa Soliel stalks down the aisle from the Slytherin table to her spot at the Hufflepuff table nearing the end of breakfast.

Her head snaps up at the anger and annoyance evident in her brother's voice. There is a hint of something else, however, Paris cannot reconcile what she believes she hears with the more obvious truth.

Xhosa stops directly in front of his little sister, who has turned around in her seat to face him. A letter written in careful cursive on heavy paper is clenched in his hand. "What's up Xho?" Paris asks as innocently as possible. Her head pulled to the side once.

"Oh stop pretending you don't know," he shoves the paper in her face. "This couldn't scream more of your handiwork if it were a howler." Paris gingerly takes the letter and glances through it, bemused.

"You got a recommendation from Pope Francis?? I thought he was dead." she squints at the address at the bottom of the page. She had misspelled 'Cephalofer'. Should have been two f's. "And it's in Australia?!! This is awesome Xho, you've always wanted to 'get out of this rainy heckhole of a country'! What an amazing opportunity!"

Paris smiled warmly up at him, hoping the mischief in her eyes could be mistaken for excitement. Xhosa's eyebrows drew downward and he began to interject, but Paris cut him off. "One question though; what in the name of tinfoil is a PowerKing Pant?"

Xhosa glared at Paris' pretend bewilderment. Although her attempt at holding back laughter was admirable, he had lived with her long enough to recognise that particular tilt of her head; Paris was an excellent liar, but a 17 degree head tilt to the left always gave her away. "Paris," he grumbled. "Please don't tell me this is a real company. I wanna be an alchemist, not a Power...king...whatever-it-is!"

Paris rolled her eyes. Xhosa always caught her. She couldn't wait for Aspen to come to Hogwarts next year. He was much more gullible, and not on the lookout for tricks like Xhosa had been for years. "Of course it's not real Xho, everything in that letter is made up! Who would ever name their kid Patsy of all things anyway? Although I suppose the part about your face going well with ugly jumpers is the truth."

She smirked and then ducked away from Xhosa's playful fist before it could connect with her arm. He seemed more amused than angry now, but a hint of annoyance lingered in his face. "It was a good joke Dijon," he sighed as he tugged on a pink braid as he used the nickname he had come up with years ago (if their parents had been weird enough to name him after a language and his sister after a city, then why not call her any random city in France? The weirder the better). "Just don't do it again. Try it again and I may have to dye your hair back to boring black."

Paris scoffed and pulled her braid back. "You wouldn't. I would put a snake in your bed." it was a low blow, but Paris had always found it hilariously ironic that a Slytherin could be afraid of snakes. "And you're right. It was a good joke. Now give me feedback; what gave me away?"

Xhosa took the letter back from Paris. He would never foster his sister's ego by telling her so, but he was keeping this letter forever. "For one thing, stop it with the Lord of the Rings references. It may be the only fiction you like, but it's a common pattern of yours."

He glanced up to see if Paris was even paying attention, but despite her habit of falling asleep or ingoring lectures and feedback, she nodded attentively and waited for him to continue. He looked back at the letter. "Another thing: these are meant to be real employers. They would have to ability to find out for themselves why an applicant was in prison; they don't need to ask. But good move mentioning the non-discrimination and saying that it would be discussed in the interview."

Paris filed away the information. Why couldn't she be as deductively smart as her brother? Hopefully it came with time. "So you just looked at the letter and immediately knew it was me?"

The answer was yes, but only because he knew her so well. She looked so hopeful to have possibly actually fooled him for a second, however, the Xhosa couldn't bring himself to tell her so. "No not at all! I just guessed right based on the fact that you do this to me a lot. Also the p in Patsy's signature is reminiscent of your own p's. But it was really great work Didi."

Paris beamed for a second before growing embarrassed at her own reaction to the praise and smothering her smile, but the gleam of pleasure remained in her eyes. One of Xhosa's friends called for him before they headed off to class together. Xhosa gave him a quick nod. He looked back at his sister once more. "Don't forget to study for History of Magic. Goblin rebellions may be boring, but believe me, there are some very in depth questions about it on your exam.

Paris rolled her eyes and grumbled something about Germany or petunias. One or the other. Xhosa couldn't tell. He took the opportunity of her frustration to steal her toast and run off before she could protest. Paris sighed as she watched her brother rejoin his friends.

Thanks for the feedback Xho. I'll get you next time. One day you'll never know it was me. She smiled at the thought and laughed once. A passing Ravenclaw 5th year stared at her funny and Paris realised her smile must be becoming mildly demonic, but she couldn't seem to stop. The 3rd year next to her scooted the slightest fraction away.

Paris finally blinked after a minute and grabbed her bag to head off to History of Magic. She probably looked like she was plotting something evil. And maybe she was (;