Tine Ifrinn PV Eris Fawley Closed

The stomping of combat boots against the ground felt like a betrayal. Not the kind of mind-shattering betrayal, like the truth that Adam had been lying to her for half of last year. Just a faint betrayal, but enough of one that Eris winced once at the noise of her printed combat boots slamming heartily against the stone patterned floors of the endless expanse of hallways in Hogwart’s repulsively large fourth floor.

At least the shoes were nice. Eris’s grandmother had let her pick them out, insisting that if Eris was going to refuse to wear quality tennis shoes or heels to school, then she should at least have a pair of boots equipped to deal with messes and stomping around. For, as sober and sweet as Eris had been over the summer, Demetra had a faint sense that her granddaughter would get into trouble the second she went back to Hogwarts. Had Eris done just that? Perhaps. It wasn’t like she’d tell her grandmother that. All her letters back home had been nothing but poised.

So, Eris had selected a pair of boots that looked straight out of a fever dream. They were quite expressive, which was rare, considering that Eris lived in a pureblood household. The shoes in question were printed with the colours of a rainbow, etched in diagonal lines. The only weird thing was on the tag. The tag said pride on it, for some reason. Eris didn’t know what that meant, or who she was supposed to feel proud for. But, she liked the boots. Even if they were made by muggles, which dampened Eris’s excitement over the new gift. Going through a phase of unprecedented hatred tended to boggle one’s mind.

Secretly, Eris was glad for the combat boots. They were by some guy named Doc Martin, who apparently was a doctor of shoes? Muggles were really weird. Honestly, Eris was glad most of her knowledge of the muggle world was fading away because their world just sounded sad now. Why would anyone want to be a doctor of shoes? How rewarding could fixing shoes and then putting them on feet be? Plus, without transfiguration, you couldn’t really make shoes come alive to heal them. So, being a shoe doctor really was just stupid. The only reason Eris wore the shoes, even though they were made by muggles, was because of her grandmother’s endless ranting about how it was important to blend in with the fashion of the mundane world, so they didn’t end up looking as terribly out of place as some wizards did.

To emphasize that particular point, Demetra liked to tell Eris a story about her great uncle Alfie, when the two of them were alone at night, as Demetra brushed out her granddaughter’s hair and the two shared whispered tales of their days. The story was a simple one, but one that always forced a smile to Eris’s face. Granduncle Alfie had been an eccentric man, who always came bearing gifts for the Winchester girls. However, he was not aware of how muggles in the real world tended to dress. So, when the family went out in Muggle London, even just to walk the streets by their family vacation home, a home that Demetra often fantasized about, Uncle Alfie would always leave the home wearing women’s dresses. He cited that they were airy and comfortable as valid reasoning, and never understood why his family was so violently opposed to his wearing of these garments.

Eris personally wished Granduncle Alfie was still alive. He had died of Dragon pox a while ago. Dragon pox was actually pretty cool, for a disease. Eris didn’t want to get Dragon Pox, but according to her grandmother, people with dragon pox turned green and shot sparks out of their toes. Grand Uncle Alfie had died of Dragon pox after watching a muggle show called Game of Thrones and trying to capture a Peruvian Vipertooth so he could be the ‘father of dragons’. Eris didn’t understand why he did that, but she liked dragons enough to respect his death. In a weird way. Eris and Rhea both had gone to look at Grand Uncle Alfie’s grave and ended up laughing at the story of his death until their respective caregivers had lectured the two of them for an hour straight about respect for deceased family members. That had been one of the few good memories of the summer, even if, in hindsight, it wasn’t all that hilarious to have spent an hour being screamed at by angry adult women, when the time could have been spent actually speaking to Rhea.

The summer having one moment of happiness was similar to Eris’s second year at Hogwarts. It had been monotonous, to say the least. That year had been spent wandering around, doing nothing besides trying to distract from the tastelessness of a year at Hogwarts without Dorian and Max, when Adam was keeping secrets, and the only words echoing around in Eris’s head were reminders of the fact she had gotten burnt to a crisp by a Ravenclaw the year prior. And hadn’t even been able to find him and enact a vengeful revenge scheme upon him. Fucking Ben Eckenrodent. Eris knew that most people disagreed with her plan to hunt him down and beat the living daylights out of him.. but if Eris found Ben? She was going to punch first, ask questions later.

She’d told herself ten times over that this year was going to be different. There was a sheen of excitement that tampered away any miserable emotions, mostly due to the fact that one of her best friends was back at school. With Max back, and Adam not lying to her, Eris’s year couldn’t be as bad as last year. That much was certain, right? So, with the knowledge that all was right in the world, Eris had vowed to spend a lot less of her year wandering around the castle and being morose. There was nobody to hunt, not anymore. It felt like this year was going to be safer. There felt like a lot less of a risk of random people attacking and leaping out of the shadows to throttle Eris or any of her friends. That was supposed to make Eris feel more reassured, but if anything, it made her bored and on edge. There was no way that everything was going to be perfect for the whole year. There was never peace at Hogwarts. Not for long, as long as Solomon Lear was the Headmaster.

She’d avoided even leaving the common room without the company of friends, refusing to spend more than a minute wandering fruitlessly around the castle. Eris was not going to be depressing this year. So, how had she ended up returning to her former haunts? Eris had finished writing a letter to Adam, given the note to Owlbert, who had bit her finger when Eris suggested he didn’t take his time delivering it and then left.

Owlbert had developed an uncanny habit of flying to the Owlery before even bothering to go deliver Eris’s letters. Eris was pretty certain it was because he had an owl girlfriend, just like everyone else at the whole fricking school. Everyone was dating other people! It was weird and gross, and Eris wanted to take her mind off of it. She wasn’t very good at emotions, and was very stressed by the fact everyone was growing up so fast. Eris didn’t understand puberty or relationships. That was too much effort to focus on.

And so, Eris wandered. Eris had no idea why she walked towards the Rehearsal room, again. She liked it in that room. It was a place she had been too many times. Professor Galim had shown her about music in there, and there was something interesting about the way music could capture emotions. Not that Eris could put a finger on whatever that interesting thing was. Although, she would admit that there was something otherworldly about song, and the way it encapsulated emotions so easily. But, it didn’t quite interest her enough to look into learning how to play an instrument.

As Eris prepared to enter into the room, she stopped walking and nearly slammed into the wall at the sound of someone screaming? Or… maybe someone was singing? She couldn’t quite tell. Venturing to take another step forward, trying not to giggle at the noises arising from the room, Eris peered into the Rehearsal Room, brown eyes squinting into the room.

There was… a giant! Eris nearly fell back from her spying spot at the doorway, seeing the frame of the most huge person ever encompassing all the free room in the Rehearsal room. His whole presence made her feel even shorter than usual. Subconsciously, body reacting to her embarrassment over being a glorified ant compared to the fellow redhead standing in the room, Eris’s metamorphmagus abilities adjusted to the scene, causing her to grow 3 cm, until she stood at 4’8. It wasn’t much of a crutch to rely upon, but at least she was a bit taller.

This seemed far more interesting than wandering around or sitting in an empty room. Instead of being alone and wandering around alone like a weirdo, she had come face to face with a singing giant. Who had a very thick accent. Wow. That was crazy. She’d never talked to anyone with such a strong accent. It was almost impossible to understand whatever the giant was singing, but Eris picked up the words Maria and stuff that sounded like love. And then there was something about Esmerelda. Maybe she was Maria’s friend or his ex-girlfriend and was keeping the giant from Maria. Whoever she was, the singer seemed to really hate her. And he also wanted to burn Maria? Burning people wasn’t a good idea. Eris knew that first hand.

To Eris, who was so short, it wouldn’t have been apparent that Quinn was a half-giant. To her, he was freakishly tall to the extreme. To the point where there was no doubt in her mind that he was a giant of great renown. Eris wasn’t even sure if he was a student, or if he just was a giant who had been living in the forbidden forest just to somehow sneak into Hogwarts to sing when the Rehearsal room was empty.

Eris couldn’t tell if the person was angry or sad, and quite frankly, found the whole scene funny. Due to his rancorous singing, Eris was able to let out a faint laugh, covering her hand with her robe sleeve. He was so focused on the song that Eris had a feeling the giant wouldn’t notice her, and sure to her belief, he did not notice the small rehead. She chanced a step further into the room, no longer just hanging by the door. Again, judging correctly, Eris felt a faint pride at the fact she was correct in the observation that the boy wouldn’t look up from his singing and his cat to notice the pint-sized spy creep even further into the room.

After a few moments, the song ended and the giant crushed his cat. Literally. That poor cat was enclosed in a hug that looked bone-crushing, but as Eris craned forward to see if the cat was doomed, she heard purring and deemed the creature was still alive.

Was she supposed to clap? Eris had no idea. What did you do when you accidentally walked in on a giant singing? Didn’t people usually act like the singing didn’t happen? Someone had told her that once. So, Eris decided to try that out.

“Who’s Maria?” Eris called out, head pointed straight at the ceiling in an attempt to spot the face of the person she vaguely recognized. “Whoever she is, you really gotta love or like -- whatever-- the shit out of her if you wrote a whole.. er, song about wanting to date her or kill her.”

[font="MS Gothic"]

"SWEET BABY JESOEHS TAPDANCIN CHREST AHN A BAHX O' CAHMMUNION WAFERS!!!"

Quinn was so caught off guard by the sudden and apparent presence of another that he ended up blurting out the first thing that came to his mind. The poor Huffle came about as close as one could get to literally jumping out of their skin. He physically jumped into the air flailing his arms about tossing up Irene by accident who was so surprised by his reaction that she let out a high pitched.

"Mreeooooow!!!"

She landed rather effortlessly on her feet after flailing in the air like a fish out of out water for a few seconds. She glared up at the red faced Quinn once he came back down with a loud thud on his feet. Arching her back rather sharply she hissed aggressively at him rather displeased with her master. Irene's eyes then shifted their attention to the puny student behind Quinn looking rather hostile at her leaving her back arched.

"Ahh foehck all kends o' doehck! you 'eard dat? all o' it?"

The young Hufflepuff groaned out in displeasure and pure utter embarrassment turning around to face her. His current demeanor and embarrassment caused him to arch his back and bend down a bit making him look a bit shorter. He was still a good 2 feet taller then Eris easily but now he looked less imposing, much more approachable. The only thing that caused his embarrassment to stop was when he finally registered everything else she said.

"Wait wait wait. You dink I wrahte dat so-"

For a rare change he actually interrupted himself to start another line of thought.

"'OW IN BRANNIGAN'S CHOEHM FELLED TROUSERS DO YOU NAHT KNOW WHO MARIA IS? You know de Virgin Mary!?"

Pure astonishment now replaced his embarrassed expression. It was genuine are you serious shock on his vibes. It was almost as bad as someone asking who superman was. The pure tragedy of it.

"Also I'm rather flattered you dink i wrahte dat beautifoehl masterpiece o' ahverdramatic angst boeht no i dedn't. It's 'Ellfire frahm 'Oehnch Back O' Nahtre Dame. Me all time favahrite desney mahvie ever. An anyone who wants to shet ahn dat can fight me!"

Yet again he changed topics quickly growing very impassioned rather quickly with his explanation talking her ear off no doubt. His beautiful cat Irene calmed down looking on in what could only be described as the Why do I have to deal with this shit look. In short, pure and utter annoyance with her master only being held back by her apparent amusement with the situation.

[/font]

Sweet baby Jesus--what? Eris raised an eyebrow, trying extremely hard not to laugh. Her face turned red from the effort not to start chuckling loudly in the middle of the giant’s hissy fit. Even in the face of danger as immense as being crushed by someone at least three times bigger than her, Eris couldn’t help but find the situation extremely hilarious. The hilarity of it all increased when the boy giant jumped up and began flailing his arms around like a squid, or another creature with tentacles. Eris had no idea what he was doing but found it funny anyway. Maybe it was a primitive giant ritual used to express embarrassment? Whatever he was doing, she didn’t know but found it entertaining nonetheless.

For a moment, Eris waited for him to hit the ceiling and send the roof falling down on top of the two of them. He did no such thing, and as wonderful as it was not to have the roof fall on top of her, Eris would have had a reason to laugh even more if the roof did come crashing down because of her. That would have been quite the story to tell people about, once she was out of the hospital wing from having a roof fall on her. However, the two of them were safe from being hit by falling stone, which was pretty good, all things considered.

A meowing noise alerted Eris to the fact that there were not just two people in the room. Oh! And the cat. So, the three of them were safe. Eris didn’t notice that the cat had been flung into the air until too late, gasping and digging around in her pocket for her wand, trying to prevent the fall. Not sure what exactly she was doing, Eris reached for her wand, but ended up pulling out a liquorice wand, instead. Cursing, Eris finally dug the cherry wood wand out of her robes, only to see the cat had landed on its feet.

Oh right. Cats always landed on their feet. Why had she been trying to save a cat? Eris mouthed sorry at the pretty cat anyways, as the creature turned to hiss at her. Taking a bite of the candy wand, wincing as the impact of the giant landing shook throughout the entire room, Eris swallowed her piece of liquorice and struggled to decipher whatever the boy was saying.

Taking another bite of the candy was just the excuse to give Eris something to focus on, instead of laughing hysterically. So, when the boy started speaking, she just nodded her head. Mouth full of candy, Eris realized she would have to take that out of her mouth to speak. Taking the candy out of her mouth, waving it around with her right hand, like it was an actual wand, Eris nodded her head again, using her left hand to shove her real wand back into the bottom ravine of sugar stained black fabric, known cordially as her robe pockets.

“Yeah. Wasn’t all that bad, all things considered. I mean, I quite liked the bit where you seemed about to pledge your love to Maria, but then you actually were screaming at her. In the end. It was quite interesting. Good bit of acting.” Eris commented before the boy giant kept speaking.

As he arched down, Eris felt a bit less short. Even if he still towered over her, at least Eris could see the face of the boy. Eris pursed her lips together, trying to figure out what she knew him from. Something or another. He kept talking, as Eris took another bite of her candy and shrugged in response.

“You didn’t write it? Okay, whoa. Sorry. No, I don’t know who Maria is. She some important girl in your life?” Eris questioned, shaking her head. “No. I don’t know who the … virgin Mary is?” She wrinkled her nose, making an affronted face. Wasn’t that a word you weren’t supposed to use out loud? Like all the cuss ones, but this one was a word that wasn’t a bad word. But a private one. Eris just raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of her food with an expression akin to interest, even if confusion was more evidently plastered all over her face.

Eris looked a bit sheepish, seeing the horror on the giant’s face. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know about giant culture! Or whatever the hell the Hunchback of Nahtre Dame was. Eris tucked her sticky hands into her pockets, having finished her candy in a few swift bites.

“Uh. Sorry. I don’t know about whatever the Hunchback of Naughter Damn is. I don’t know about giant culture and stuff. I just.. Kinda.. Go to school here.” Eris muttered, awkwardly. Rocking back and forth on the heels of her new shoes, Eris looked down at the ground. What the hell was she supposed to say now?

“I like your cat.” Eris supplied unhelpfully, looking at Irene. At least a cat was a normal thing, unlike giant culture. She nailed it. Cats could fix any conversation, according to half of her cat-obsessed friends.

[font="MS Gothic"]

Quinn pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to her. From what he observed it seemed that one she had trouble with his thick accent. Two and this was only a guess on his part but that perhaps she was a pureblood. He vaguely remembered Eris from the prior years. If he was still correct she used to be a prefect, though he didn't remember.

Third and last she thought he was a giant. She was half right, but it seemed she was mistaken and thought he was a fool giant. Didn't she know that giants weren't very adept at magic in general. It's why among other things they didn't attend wizarding schools they basically lacked the aptitude to perform it well enough. Quinn struggled as it was with getting his spells and learning right. Sometimes it seemed impossible.

Just as his mind began to wonder, Quinn reeled himself in from the ruminations of his mind. 'Okay okay. Back to reality Quinn you're just staring at her. So fix the accent, try not to insult her with a sassy comment about her being or not being a pure blood. And for the love of god don't get emotional when talking about what you are. She doesn't know.' He had to mentally prepare and warn himself. "Ahem! Roeght....Reight....Reght....Right. Ah! There we go that be a bit better. You can prolly understand me alot better now huh?"

A simple flash of the Healy smile. Warm, welcoming, and quick. The best way to melt the ice and get over an awkward situation of his own doing. "Judgin by your clueless expression on a lot of what I just said, and on other things. Is it safe to assume that you are a pureblood?" Quick and to the point best way to get to the heart of the situation. Didn't always work but better to act now and ask for forgiveness later. Seems like that was slowly becoming the motto of his life. "Anyway you don't have to answer that. Something tells me I'm right on the mark." He gave pause to allow her to digest what he just said.

Now there was the issue of how he should explain these things, plus Irene...Irene! That was it. "Iren-" Somehow the cat was able to give him a dirty look. "Aye don't you back sass me!? I do that sassin round ere.!" He exclaimed to the feline who tilted their head making a weird mocking expression by smacking their gums. Succeeded by them walking over to Eris and curiously walking around the small lass. "...You are such a...such a...." He let it go, sighing exasperatedly. "Anyway this extra and aggravating feline is Irene." He then paused once more.

Quinn tended to let the words flow out in some sort of orchestrated chaos usually not giving individuals time to properly compose themselves and instead just react. "To answer all of yer questions, let me ask, you do know what religion is right? If so tell me what you think it is. Second it's the Hunchback of Notre Dame, a Disney movie. There's plenty of good ones but it's my all time favorite. Third I'm a Half-Giant I don't get nearly as big and I would appreciate not being generalized with giants. We both find it quite insulting." He kurtly corrected.

[/font]

Eris had never been good at staring contests. She got bored too easily. But, the giant seemed to have decided that right now was the perfect moment for an extremely awkward staring contest. He didn’t say anything, and just stared at her. Was he reading her mind? Eris thought intently about how she was not a gnome and that she was perfectly fine with giants. She didn’t want to get in the middle of a gnome versus giant war.

For a long moment, the giant just stared at her. Eris stared back, having no idea what was going on. She blinked rapidly, trying to discern what thoughts might have been going through the head of the towering giant. When he said nothing, her mind once again wandered towards figuring out what he was doing in the castle. Maybe he was the groundskeeper, or the caretaker. That made Eris instantly worried. She wasn’t a big fan of adults who worked at Hogwarts. They all lied and didn’t seem to care much about the attacks on students, or the violence of the students themselves. The giant didn’t look like an adult, but Eris still stared at him with a new wariness. Now that his head was lower to the ground, Eris was able to truly look at the ginger’s features. He looked older than her (obviously, as everyone did at this point in time), but nowhere near old enough to be a professor.

Frowning, barely processing that he was speaking, Eris blinked rapidly once again. Was the awkward silence finally over? Content that whatever unspoken staring contest the two had engaged in was over, Eris turned her gaze away from Quinn and back towards the floor, even if her attention was solely fixated on him. She was paying attention, but found it strange to stare at virtual stranger for an extended period of time.

How was he able to change his accent? One moment, his accent was so thick that Eris could hardly understand a word coming out of his mouth, but now his accent was an afterthought in the conversation. How had his accent gone from prominent to practically nonexistent? That was a new type of witchcraft. Eris just dumbfoundedly nodded her head, in faint awe of Quinn’s ability to disguise his accent. She didn’t say anything, eyes wide and cartoon-like, as Eris looked up at Quinn again. Whoa.

She returned the smile on instinct, Eris was faintly confused by how easily he had grasped that she was a pureblood. In her first year, she had known a lot about muggle pop-culture. Eris had been able to pass as someone who was well versed in both worlds, muggle and wizard. She was glad there was no more doubt in anyone’s mind about who she truly was, even if Eris found herself wary. Maybe he knew who she was. Remembering the drama surrounding her mother and father two years ago, Eris nodded her head sharply.

Even though the giant had told her not to answer, Eris still did. “I am a pureblood. I’m Eris Fawley.” Not only was stating her name a way to judge if the giant knew who she was, it was also a subtle way to inquire about his own name. Usually, when someone stated their name, it meant that whoever they were conversing with should also say their name. Or, at least, that was something Eris had inferred from her own life experiences. She wasn’t quite sure if her theory was true.

Eris opened her mouth to drill the boy about why he was so sure she was a pureblood, but was silenced by a sudden conversation between the giant and his cat. As the cat walked over to her, Eris’s harsh questioning was forgotten. She let out a coo, offering her hand out to the cat. “Hello, cutie! You don’t seem so aggravating to me, Irene.” Eris ignored Quinn for a moment, fully invested in the cat. Her focus was once again no longer on Quinn, even if she listened to his words.

“Religion is when you believe in God and stuff.” Eris stated, blandly. Catholicism wasn’t exactly something that her pureblooded family focused upon, considering the fact that modern Christianity and Catholicism were not the most supportive of witchcraft. But, Eris knew there was a dude named God and because of him, there was Christmas. She also knew about Disney movies, but didn’t really care. She didn’t really care about the Hunchback of Notre Dame, in the slightest. His words went over her head, but Eris nodded and went back to looking down at Irene.

At his comment about half-giants and giants, Eris stared at Quinn again. Maybe he just looked so huge because she was so small! There were plenty of things that Eris could have said. Something nice maybe. Something respectful. Instead, Eris just tilted her head to the side. “Okay. You’re a half-giant. I’m a metamorphmagus. Cool. Whatever.” She added in the bit about herself being different to soften the blow of her curiosity, as Eris blurted her out her pressing question.

“Why don’t you want to be called a giant?” She questioned. When not being forced to be cordial by her grandparents, patience had never been Eris’s forte.

[font="MS Gothic"]

"...Ye're very straight to the point huh?" He quirked one of his large bushy brows. It was a query that sounded a little more like a statement then a question. But it was asked anyway, not like he would give her much time to answer in truth. She asked alot of questions and there were still many that he had for her. It was...exciting for the young Half-Giant.

"Well that's a lot of questions but I suppose ah can answer your most pressing question." A small laugh escaped his chuckle. Feelings he hadn't felt in some time started to prop back up in his heart and chest. His body felt like it would start to tremble soon from the sudden energy that overtook him. It had been too long since he felt that way. Gosh why did he feel like an old man he was only 12!

Well Quinn couldn't focus on that or his mind would wander again leaving her in silence. "Anyway wizards in my experience, especially purebloods can be..." He trailed off pursing his lips his eyes narrowing down at Eris. "To put it nicely they can be...what's the word my granda uses...appre...appra...ah!...apprehensove when it comes to things that aren't strictly human. I guess they don't like things that are too different. An considering the reputation of giants and the stigma...I prefer not to be mistaken for one. Bad memories an let's leave it at that hm?" While he talked about the subject, he left a lot out and struggled not to add a plethora of cussing.

In the end they were just a bunch of excuses he came up with to hide the fact that for the most part he didn't fully understand why he disliked and sometimes hated being compared to a giant. He knew about them and why he should hate being called one. Personally, however, he did not understand why he disliked/hated that fact.

Quinn's eyes then shifted over to Irene who was being quite the suck up. "...suck up". He muttered glaring at his cat, who returned a seemingly innocent gaze. "Mhm...yeah laugh it up now but just you wait I'll get you." He mock threatened. It was obviously empty as he adored his beautiful cat who was fiesty like his mother, and just about as sassy. "Anyway if I have to explain all this stuff to you why don't we go grab a seat. Ye can play with Irene while we chat Eris. Been awhile since anyway has ever chatted with me this long....gooooooood my granda is right. I sound like an old maaaaaaaan!" He whined and sighed in defeat at the sudden realization. "Why meeeeeeeeeee!?" He dramatically stated.

[/font]