October 18, 2024 – 10:41 PM
James Fletcher — Played by MJ
15th October, 1894 — An unused classroom, study period
Fifth year was make or break time, or so the professors all kept parroting – OWL exams, the last year before some people (the ones who couldn’t afford it) went out into the big wide world to work soul-destroying jobs until their deaths, and whatnot – and of course good grades would save those who didn’t have money, and spare them by opening windows to more serious and still more soul-destroying jobs, like this was some consolation.
So there were a few classrooms that had been set aside for the fifth years’ use, for practical revision throughout the year. There were a few people practising charms across the way. Jimmy had picked Miss Dursley’s side of the room, and set down his schoolbag on an empty desk space beside hers – because he knew she would be slower to tell him to get lost than some people, and maybe half to disturb her peace. She looked deep in concentration already.
Alright, maybe more than half to disturb her peace. He could practise some of the new Transfiguration or DADA spells, but instead Jimmy busied himself by kicking back in a chair and pulling out a deck of exploding snap cards. “Did you know, Miss Dursley,” he commented, doing his best to look academically thoughtful and not about to laugh, “that you’re the surliest-looking Hufflepuff I’ve ever seen?” (Hufflepuffs were known for their cheerfulness and smiles and niceness, weren’t they? And here Miss Dursley was always looking deadpan and depressed. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for her in her common room, honestly.)
Corinne Dursley
October 28, 2024 – 3:11 PM
Corinne Dursley — Played by Poe
Her right hand reflexively tightened around the quill, threatening for half a heartbeat to bend it, before quickly (read: forcingly) relaxing. Cori bit down on the urge to grumble as the unlikeliest of her circle of friends attempted to curator a scholarly tone with his “observation”.
He would not be the first nor the last person to note such a thing (even Cori knew she made a dour Hufflepuff). No, she’d surely hear about her lack of visible cheer for the rest of her life – just as surely as this wouldn’t be the last time James Fletcher, a bane to the existence of studying and good grades in Hogwarts, would come around to press her buttons. For a brief moment, she thought to tell him to go away, to leave her in peace and go harass some other poor unfortunate soul…
But, after putting her quill back in her ink well, made the decision not to.
(Sometimes, even she was surprised by the well of exasperated patience she found within herself for the short boy’s shit-stirring antics…)
Bookmarking and putting aside her tome – Unicorn Hair and Favorable Charms – she straightened up in her chair and, oh so slowly, turned to face her fellow fifth year. Her gaze was starkly deadpan and cutting, her eyes half-lidded as she cocked a brow at him. The corners of her lips threatened to pull down in a faint scowl, but she fought to keep her most neutral, unimpressed expression on her face.
“Fletcher,” she propped an elbow up on the table and rested her chin on the back of her left hand,
“if your keeper skills are truly on par with your astuteness, I shall go ahead and congratulate Slytherin team on their victory this November.”
(…though her ‘patience’ did not mean she wouldn’t give as good as she got.)
November 23, 2024 – 8:57 PM
James Fletcher — Played by MJ
Jimmy managed to keep his faux-thoughtful look as she turned slowly – he wasn’t afraid of a glare; people glared at him so often they really did nothing to him but amuse him – but he pouted at the words. Some people (the girls particularly) played up being offended, and other people gave as good as they got. Miss Dursley was the latter.
So she might be insulting him (cleverly, to boot), but being insulted made him beam rather than put him off. “How dare you,” he said, the beaming rather undercutting his complaint; but his real victory was in having someone fun to talk to, and from having pulled her from her reading, even just for a moment. “I’m as sharp in the head as I am on the quaffle, and that’s why Gryffindor’s going to win the quidditch cup again this year.” Pure and baseless boasting, of course – it was much too early in the year to tell, but as new Captain, Jimmy felt obligated to espouse the belief at every opportunity. “If you were astute you’d know that. But then, if you were, you’d probably be in Ravenclaw,” he teased. “Besides, I can catch anything. Try me.” He didn’t expect she would go for this, and start throwing things at him for him to prove his quick reflexes, but it was worth a shot.
December 19, 2024 – 2:02 PM
Corinne Dursley — Played by Poe
Though she’d rather fail a class assignment than publicly admit it, James’ smile in response to her retort was probably the real reason that two were, however improbable, friends; there were very, very few peoples in her life that would gladly verbally spar with her – most would find her prickly tongue too unladylike, too improper… (hell, resting her elbow on the table-top would surely give any etiquette instructor a right fit).
But not James Fletcher.
(And, maybe, that was also why she found the patience to humor him more often than not – especially when she ought not encourage him).
Her dark eyes flipped rapidly in a roll, too quick anyone not within a few feet of her to notice, at his boasting; she did not normally suffer braggarts, but somehow – and may no one ever tell the boy next to her such a thing to his face – the blonde wizard, somehow, managed something almost akin to charm when he opened his big mouth.
“And yet, Captain,” she mused blandly in return, blinking slowly and deliberately, “I am unmoved in my doubt.”
She shifted from resting her chin on the back of her to cradling it in the palm, pivoting on her elbow to grab her book as he challenged her. For a moment, she thought to really test his reflexes against hers – quidditch training versus dueling club practice – but that would draw a bit too much attention from the other few studying students in the room.
…still.
“Do not tempt me,” With the swift reflexes honed by her club, she feinted chucking the hardback at his head – before stopping short to wave it in front of his nose instead, “that quaffle-minded head of yours would make an easy target; I am continually shocked its overgrown size has not tipped you off your broom still.”
January 19, 2025 – 12:37 AM
James Fletcher — Played by MJ
She moved slightly, and he almost fancied she was going to take him up on the suggestion – but of course Miss Dursley was better behaved than that. (If it had only been the pair of them in the room, then maybe. She was a dark horse, sometimes.)
Yep, she had only been joking: the hardback hadn’t left her hand. Jimmy stuck out his tongue, childishly, at her comments on his the inflated size of his head. “Helps me block the hoops better, you see,” he pointed out, with a shit-eating grin, prepared to make anything rude Corinne said about him a compliment, if he could. (And never mind if people usually thought his face a punchable one.)
“But what can I do, if you’re a pessimist and a skeptic,” he prodded with a shrug, except prove you wrong. “Are you going to watch the games, or are you too obsessed with –” he squinted dismissively at the textbook she was brandishing to quote the title, “unicorn hair and favourable charms?”
February 12, 2025 – 6:55 PM
Corinne Dursley — Played by Poe
"Unsurprisingly," she countered, putting the book back down on the table with care - out of the reach of mischievous boys, "You mispronounced realist – perhaps you should try replacing the hot air between your ears sometime, to avoid such mishaps."
Still staring at him, she flipped her textbook back open; she did not take the bait and answer his next, prodding question immediately, choosing instead to turn her dark gaze back down to the text on the page. She read a slowly, pushing a wayward curl behind an ear as it escapes the bun at the nape of her neck. Unlike a true, rude dismissal – as if the Gryffindor would actually let such a thing chase him – she did not reach for her notes or quill, which meant she was just purposefully ignoring him as she loudly turned a page.
When the quiet had stretched on just enough to hopefully bother the boy, she paused and tilted to her head to face him as she rested her cheek on her palm.
"Why, Fletcher," she finally returned, eyes flashing for the briefest moment with amusement, "it almost sounds like you are specifically inviting the 'surliest-looking Hufflepuff you've ever seen' to watch you play quidditch – does your team have no fans in the stands for your matches? Ravenclaw never seems to have such a problem."
