Ida was annoying. He was twenty three years old and didn’t need anyone to tell him when he should or should not eat; Clifford did that to his siblings, especially when Meena was being a brat and refusing to eat what he’d put in front of her - she wanted cookies and chocolate for dinner, not vegetables and fish. He blamed Algae for constantly bringing treats over for her. "I just happened to spot them in my cupboard this morning..." as if he didn't stuff a bag with Honeyduke's label in his pocket before walking through the front door. She didn’t care about growing up to be big and strong. (Probably because Cliff ate whatever he wanted, and well… turned out to be just that.)

He looked at the girl from the corner of his eye before heaving an exaggerated sigh, unwrapped the bun and shoved the entire thing in his mouth in one go; it wasn’t often people worried about him, and he certainly wasn’t about to let Ida Chang, supreme bitch and lacky of a demon horse, worry over him. Then, having to commit to chewing the entire thing, which was absolute heaven in his mouth (and he may have hummed quite happily), Cliff managed to keep his mouth closed without spilling any down the front of him in the process before he’d swallowed it. It was a shining moment. Still, her shrug made him frown as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She offered to pack more, which surprised him enough to make his eyes widen. Then, dropping his gaze to give himself some recovery time, he mumbled a nearly inaudible “thank you,” which might have killed him in any other setting.

He flicked his gaze up to her as she withdrew some of the items from her bag, and he frowned at her. “Isn’t that what I said?” Because of course they were both aware it's not what he actually said, but he’d ignore any jabs about it. Ida should be proud that he even knew what was an animagus was, because that term was well above his intelligence level if anyone were to ask him. Algernon had to explain several times what it was, but it took turning into his dog form several times in front of him for Cliff to even register that it was real.

“When I do make it through.” He replied with a frown. He stood as she instructed, standing tall and very still as the measuring tape whizzed around his body. He even held his breath and eyed it nervously, waiting for it to wrap around his throat to choke him. Cliff’s eyes fleeted to her and he managed to snort; how he went from tackling her to making jokes with her was well beyond him, but he wasn’t going to complain. At least he wasn’t dead. “Hey. I got your dogs to like me and I’m working on the demon horse over there. I’d be king of the animals. I’m good at protecting what’s mine.” He shot back. Not that he was implying Ida was his - Cliff didn’t want any inkling of Ida thinking that he was viewing her in that way at all. He never wanted to think of anyone more than a friend. (Hell, at this point he didn't even want to consider anyone else out of Algae his friend either.)

At the mention of his friend he shook his head. “Nope.” Cliff popped the ‘p’ as he spoke. “Astorwood is a straight hermit.” If she followed Quidditch, she should hopefully know the story behind him; if not, he didn't care. It wasn't his story to tell. Even if Aglar had more friends than Clifford did, he spent a majority of his time in his flat or on the farm. He cocked his eyebrow at her. “So, she’s just like you but worse, got it. Ida Chang, what’s the worst that can happen? There’s not a single thing in this world I’m afraid of, and I sure as hell won’t be mute.” Especially some girl. He’d feel silly being afraid of a debutante.

Cliff took a step forward toward her as he furrowed his eyebrows together. “And what do you want in return?” He hadn’t thought to ask and panic nearly clawed at his throat. There wasn’t anything of value to his name out of his farm, his livelihood and his home. He’d rather die before he handed that over.

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