a birthday is the best time for sulking [notts]

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

Eventually all students end up here: the library. It was quite a magical place as it could serve the needs of so many. There were people using it for its intended purpose. It was there for the bookish students who used the library as a refuge to study to their heart's content with resources immediately available to them. And then there were those who used the library in other ways. In the far-off corners of the library where dust collected and gathered in droves enough to cause a sneezing fit, there were couples canoodling. One could only be thankful that they were not in more conspicuous areas of the library. There were just some things that one did not want to know. Then there were people like Josceline who hid in the library. Sure, she studied in the library, as she was doing now, but her original intention when she entered the library was to look for a hiding place. Soon after arriving, she decided that she would try her hand at studying to get her mind off troubling matters.

Lately, her and her on-and-off boyfriend had been having problems... again. At her most cynical, Josceline would almost say that they never should have begun going out at all seeing how they didn't mesh. It seemed like their relationship was purely wrought of nothing but pain. He had disappeared off to cuddle some Blast-Ended Skrewts or some other disgusting creature when it was her birthday. She was sure that he had known it... perhaps he had just forgotten about it. What a fantastic birthday. Now sinking into a sulking depression, Josceline had secluded herself off to a corner of the library where she had pulled out some homework that she could potentially do. After all, she might as well be productive while her so-called boyfriend pranced off and played with funner things. Somewhere in the back of her mind, there was a small, muffled voice of protestation against the injustice against Brad. He was normally such a sweet boyfriend, a nice boy, the kind that her parents hated. But she had speculated more than once before that it likely had more to do with his less-than-pure blood running through his veins than any personal fault of his. The small voice defending Brad had done nothing more but annoyed her further.

With her annoyed thoughts of her again-failing relationship ringing loudly in her head, Josceline had done nothing more than stare at the letters meaninglessly as they jumbled around for the past twenty minutes. Sighing, Josceline rubbed her forehead, frustrated with her lack of progress. The lack of progress in her homework, lack of progress in her relationship, lack of progress in her family. Everything was slowly going to hell.

[CALLISTA CAIN NOTT]

Calli was restless. And not the usual kind of restlessness. The day was a special one, but not in the way most would expect. Indeed, today was her older sister's birthday. Callista preferred to be that last sour note on such a normally sweet day, but from what she had heard, it was more of being the straw that broke the camel's back. That's what she heard anyway, and seeing how she would still mess with her sister either way, the slytherin had set out to hunt down the hufflepuff to deliver her usual self-esteem stabbings. She particularly loved the stabbing metaphor. Now if she could just find a way into the Hufflepuff dormitories and it would be much more literal.

Oh, Hogwarts security. Why must it always get in the way? The brunette shook the thought out of her mind as she peered inside the library, trying to see if she could just easily spot her sister among the tables. No such luck. Ah, that was alright, Callista could savor a little bit of the hunt this way. She moved through the bookshelves easily, keeping her blue eyes on the environment around her to spot the family resemblance. Calli could tell, Josceline was trying to hide today. Good, there wasn't anyone to watch her mess with her sister. Spectacles were nice when they were necessary; however, there wasn't a point in drawing a crowd for such an occasion.

Finally, she spotted Jos at the corner of the library, mostly alone. Ah yes, that seemed like a good opening. ”Well, this birthday celebration is perfect for you, Josceline,” she greeted with a distinctive smile, almost too pleasant, ”Every traitor like you should spend it completely alone without any friends.”

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

Moody and annoyed, Josceline was in no mood for company. Especially company that came in the form of her vindictive younger sister. Which was why Josceline was less than pleased to see Callista headed her way. Great, it was just typical of her little sister to kick her when she was already down. Although Calli and her had never seen eye to eye on anything, Josceline had hoped that her younger sister would finally grow up and stop with this annual ritual of taunting and ridicule. However, it seemed that it was not the case. Knowing her sister as she did, Josceline knew by her gait and the self-satisfied look on her face that this year was not the year that Calli was going to come by to make nice.

Having lived in the same house as the other girl for the first eleven years of her life and holidays, Josceline had more than enough experience with Callista to know that her smile was anything but pleasant. If anything, it had a slight predatory air to her. “Oh, what a surprise, it's my birthday and lo and behold, it's Callista. Come to take a jab?” Josceline leveled a less than amused look at her younger sister. “You're getting predictable, little sister. The next thing you know, everybody's going to know you for what you truly are,” she said with a taunting air. Most times, Josceline tried to play a bit nicer with her sister even though years of experience taught her that her attempts were futile. From what she could tell, Calli seemed bent on beating her down even before the whole Hufflepuff thing.

Ever since they were young, Josceline and Callista had never gotten along. Perhaps they just hated each other's guts, pure and simple. Or maybe it had to do with something else. Josceline was never entirely certain. Calli's constant antagonism was definitely a stressful part of her childhood, but her father's love and continuation to give her gifts had been more than enough to make up for it. Despite it all, Josceline did love her sister in a strange kind of way. Through their veins ran the same pureblood and no matter how much her sister wanted to deny it, there was nothing that could be done to change that.

[CALLISTA CAIN NOTT]

Oh, the badger was trying to bite today. Callista wasn't entirely sure whether she was amused or annoyed by the reaction. Josceline tended to brush off her various verbal attacks (though much less tolerant of any murder attempts in the near future probably). So, terrible days made for a very feisty Jos. Though she wasn't entirely sure she enjoyed this information, it was certainly useful. Now it was more on how to proceed with this information. Should she test the waters and see if she could provoke her sister into an actual duel? Or maybe bow her head and back off until she could actually ruin a good day for her?

Tch. She was a slytherin! There was no way she was going to back down from some measly hufflepuff, much less her sister. It would make her the laughing stock of her entire house to even consider the possibility. Calli mentally slapped herself for committing such a sin. She would have to correct this by immediately going into plan A: further provocation. She thus ignored the fact that she wasn't that great at dueling. ”Oh dear, Josceline, you really think I would forget my favorite activity?” she asked sweetly, ”I love making fun of your pathetic little life and your pathetic little friends.” She let out a strong, 'ohohoho,' though there really wasn't much need for it. It had seem villainously appropriate... hmm. Maybe she needed to jab a bit more.

”Speaking of your pathetic little friends...” Callista began with a distinct smirk, ”I heard about a close one of yours being in the tournament. How long do you think it'll be before that skittering little insect gets squashed?” She tried to appear nonchalant as she spoke of it, but made a point to keep eye contact with her older sister. ”Considering how she acted earlier, I doubt the mudblood has very long. I'm guessing... 10 minutes?” She let out another laugh. ”I bet its gonna kill you to watch, won't it?”

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

If anything, the vague silence that ensued made Josceline more than a little nervous. What could her younger, devious little sister be cooking up in her mind? If there was someplace that she didn't want to be, her sister's brain would be one. It scared her just how much could possibly be filtered out from her brain to her mouth. There was so much that Calli said that weren't spoken aloud.

So hearing her sister's taunt was, in fact, a strange sort of a relief for Jos. However, hearing its actual contents was something else. She fought to bite down on her tongue to refrain from commenting and giving her sister more ammo to work with. Clearly, Calli was already having quite a time without anymore comments from her. However, the specific direction of her words made her blood run cold. It was one thing for Calli to take a jab at her. That was something that she could take... well, some of the time. Actually, if she were being honest, Josceline had a very low tolerance for her sister's mean words much the abuse of her personal possessions, prized or otherwise. Needless to say, Jos had grown to be quite possessive of her belongings. They were hers and hers alone. But now her sister was going after her friends. That was simply unacceptable.

Despite being terrified for her friend and not having the most confidence in her abilities to succeed in this tournament, Jos wasn't about to let her younger sister say otherwise. There was something chilling about the way that her sister maintained eye contact with her as she spoke so nonchalantly about her friend's possible demise. Jos only hoped that Yori's 'squishing' was nothing more than a metaphor for her loss in the tournament, and not in any way a reference to her death. “She's stronger than she looks. Just you wait. Us Hufflepuffs can surprise you. The problem with Slytherins like you is that you never see it coming because you dismiss us so easily,” she stated with pride and uncharacteristic bravery while hoping against hope that none of her fear was showing through the bravado she was exuding. “And don't call her a Mudblood. She's ten times the person you are. At least, she's trying to do something for her house. What are you doing with your time? ”

There was something that her sister definitely got right. It [i[was

[/i] going to kill her to watch Yori's performance in the tournament. Hidden out of sight under the table, her hands trembled, revealing her fear and nervousness.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[CALLISTA CAIN NOTT]

She had expected that sort of defense. After all, despite hufflepuffs being the spineless wimps that they were, they had at least a little semblance of house pride. If anything, it would show up more now that the house tournament was upon them. Still, a feisty Jos was an entertaining one. It kinda made her sad that she seemed rather hesitant to speak at first. Callista could easily find ammo to mess with her older sister should she wanted to, but it was always so much funner and easier to spin her words against her. Deep wounds tended be ones that people left themselves open to, and oh, she hadn't forgotten about her experiment. Prodding the girl to attack would be a fun thing to see. Detention for the hufflepuff would be an excellent birthday present!

”Can't imagine they'd be in anyone's way unless they made a goal to make a fool out of themselves,” Calli sneered back with a smirk. ”I can't imagine why the goblet of fire even bothers with you puffs. Maybe for a sideshow? Your friend seems to be good at that.” Quite obviously, Callista didn't consider the idea of 'dismissing them too easily' to be a serious comment. She hadn't yet met a hufflepuff with a skill that a house counterpart couldn't do better. Not to mention she was a villain for crying out loud. Demeaning people for the fun of it was part of the resume! Hufflepuffs were just quite justifiably an acceptable target, and an easy place to mess with her sister.

”If the mudblood wants to get herself killed for her house, I'm all for it,” she prodded back with a cheshire smile. Though her voice was strong, Callista could almost see the nervousness in her sister. It had to be there. ”One less useless person on the earth. Isn't natural selection wonderful?” Another irritating laugh, and Callista perched herself onto the edge of the table, eying Jos like a feline cornering her prey. She really did love this activity. Jos was just so easy to find when she needed a good cheering up. It certainly helped that they lived in the same house.

Hm, what had she been doing lately? Other than the usual plotting to kill her sister (note to self: figure out the right barrel to get into the common room without being doused in vinegar), she had spotted the opportunity that was arising in Olvia's graduation this year. It would leave an opening for top-dog villain at Hogwarts; just the thing Calli was looking for. It was much better to wait rather than dealing with the parsletongue herself. Not to mention, she owed Jacob that sort of patience. ”Oh, I'm doing plenty of things with my time, but don't worry, I'll always have time for my favorite chew toy~”

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

Her eyes narrowed at her sister's outright statement that Hufflepuffs were lesser beings. She had heard her sister speak of it many times, but there was just something about this time that made it so much more insulting. Her sister couldn't even give her a break on her birthday, could she? “I've told you thousands of times before. We're not a 'sideshow' as you put it and neither is she. How can you lay judgment on someone without even knowing who she is?” she replied hotly, barely managing to keep her temper under control.

Jos forced herself to take a deep breath. There was no one else who could rile her up like her sister could. She could only assume that Calli found this to be an accomplishment of some sort. If there was something she couldn't figure out, it was her sister. She was always trying to undermine her (or break her stuff) at every turn. She never quite understood why, but her sister seemed to hate her with a great fiery passion. Now while Jos does dislike her younger sister a great deal, she would not go as far to say that she hated the girl. Sometimes she felt like she did but the feeling usually goes away after a bit of time.

Jos looked at her sister in disgust. How could she say something like that? She was speaking so candidly about something as serious as death to a fellow student. “She's not going to die,” she replied quickly, trying desperately to suppress her own panic and fears. Despite having only voiced these same fears to Yori only a few weeks earlier, she was very quick to attempting to rebuff her sister's quite successful attempts at throwing her off-guard.

The calm and coolness of her sister's demeanour scared her to a great deal. In fact, the way that her sister was eying her was more than enough to make her thoroughly nervous. It was akin the calm before the storm, the silence before the fall. Other times when she's already so riled up, she could match her sister. But with the stress of the day, and it was her birthday for Pete's sake, Jos' temper had very little leeway. Needless to say, Jos was more than a bit indignant at being called a 'chew toy'. Really, who liked being called a chew toy anyway? “I'm not a chew toy!”

[CALLISTA CAIN NOTT]

Oh, it was always so amusing to see Jos trying to justify her and her house's existence. She had written them off years ago, something that her older sister wasn't going to change her mind about in the near future. Callista enjoyed her role as a villain far too much for her sister to ever change it. It was a purpose in her life, and it brought such a joy to her life she didn't know what to do at times. Except to laugh and mock her sister even more of course. Just as this was a day for celebration for her sister, it was a day of celebration for Calli as well. Without her sister, there would be no one to have born this great seed of resentment and hatred inside her.

”Because people in your house are exactly the same,” she explained mockingly, almost like talking to a three-year-old, ”Stupid, useless, and grossly inferior to everyone else.” She gave out another, 'hoo hoo hoo' laugh, swinging her legs at the edge of table. Sure, she had no idea who the hell that friend was really. She had spotted the champion and Jos talking a few times to know that they were at least friends. However, Calli didn't need to meet the girl to know that she was just as moronic as the rest of her housemates. ”Your house isn't suitable for anything other than being a source of entertainment! Why else would the sorting hat even bother with you all?”

She thought she was getting close to getting under Jos' skin. Sure, she retained a sense of calm, but she knew her sister. Calli had to make sure she was hating every moment of this, and that was by continuing to push and prod. ”Sure she's going to die, Jos,” she responded with a smirk. ”She's already shaking in her robes. First task will just tear her apart.” Of course, the brunette hadn't an idea of what the first task was going to entail. She just knew it wasn't going to end well. ”I just hope we'll have first-row seats to watch it happen. I bet it'll be funny.”

Upon Jos' indignant yell, Calli almost immediately began to laugh irritably. Oh my, her sister actually thought she had a say on this? Oh no, hufflepuffs didn't deserve the free choice of what their roles were to other houses. ”No, dear chew toy, you are,” she muttered with a grin, ”You always have been. Such an amusing little chew toy that I can spin in circles as much as possible until I'm finally bored with you.” Or just figured out how to properly get rid of her. She needed to make sure there were no witnesses and it'd look like an accident.

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

It was positively infuriating to see how her sister could latch onto something like this belief so tightly. Jos scowled as her sister continued disparaging her beloved house. Hufflepuff made her feel welcome when all seemed so bleak. There was a part of her that realized that her sister was just pushing her buttons, simply because she could. While she had heard much of the same throughout the years, blatantly or otherwise, the Hufflepuff could hardly bear to hear such a thing about her house. She breathed in deeply to rein in control on her temper once more, refusing to allow her sister to get to her.

“Calli, I've told you a thousand times, we are not all the same,” she started in an overly patient manner in an attempt to hide the fact that she was barely managing to keep a leash on her temper. “And also, we're not any of that. If anything, my house is underrated, which would explain your absolute ignorance. You can't just generalize people like that.” Even as she spoke, Jos was getting a feeling of deja vu for having said much of the same words numerous times in her life. “That's not true at all! Obviously, we serve more than a source of entertainment for you.” Not for the first time in her life, Josceline felt like she was going around in endless circles with her sister, and not in the playful, fun type of way.

In spite of how much she wanted to believe that Yori would be fine throughout this entire competition, her brain couldn't help but conjure up an injured or worse, dead, Yori. It wasn't unheard of is competitions such as these, after all. “No,” she said steadily, her voice shaking slighlty, “she's not.” At this point, Jos wasn't sure if she was more angry at her sister for suggesting the same thing that her brain had already conjured up, or if she was more angry at herself for not having enough faith in her friend. “She'll do just fine. In fact, Hufflepuff will win this year with her,” she stated boldly. Of course, Jos was sure of no such thing, but it was the only way that she could think of to shut her sister up. Well, either that or incite her into hysterical peals of laughter. Naturally, Jos was hoping for the former because sister or not, Calli was really quite obnoxious.

Sometimes, Jos wished that she could wring her sister's neck. The girl was positively infuriating; not to mention, absolutely insane at the best of times. More than anything else, Jos hated it when her sister was acting like this. “I'm not a puppet either. You do recall that you're my younger sister, don't you? If anything, you should be my puppet.” So the last part wasn't quite true, and even if it were, Jos would never exploit her younger sister like that. ”

[SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding-left:16px; padding-top:0px; padding-right:0px; padding-bottom:0px; background-image:url(http://i51.tinypic.com/2nbr3oi.jpg) ] Scorpius Malfoy So can't you see Everything you are belongs to me - - - - - - - - - - - - - - With everything that was going on in his busy schedule, Scorpius didn’t have much time for himself. There was school, which the professors just seemed to pile on the assignments; prefect duties just about every night; then there was quidditch and now he was the male Slytherin champion, couldn’t the professors give him and the other champions a break. On top of that he hadn’t spend much time with Aubrey or even his cousins. Whenever he was not busy he was either confined to the Slytherin common room desperately trying to catch up on assignments or spending what little time he had with his best friends. Sometimes he wished he was him, but at the same time, he would not trade with anyone. He was grateful that he had managed to get away from everything? Why one might as, well it was one of his cousin's birthdays, how could he ignore that. The small present in his pocket bumped against his leg as he walked from the dungeons to the entrance hall. Now where would said cousin be? She wouldn’t be in her common room, that didn’t seem like Jos, but then he had absolutely no idea where she liked to hang out. Maybe he should have sent an owl earlier to the Hufflepuff, asking to meet him, but he had been too consumed with sleep to even think of such things. Guess he had to find her the hard way. Heading up the stairs, he stopped a Ravenclaw and asked for Jos. No such luck, the Ravenclaw shook their head before walking away. Stupid Ravenclaw, he cursed, they were supposed to be smart, therefore they ought to know what his cousin was, well at least he believed they should. On the second flight of stairs he asked again, this time a Hufflepuff. Finally, he thought as they told him that she was in the library. Good, so he didn’t have to search half the day. Taking the stairs two at a time, he prayed that none changed on him before he got to the library. Today must have been his lucky day. The stairs did not change once and he had found where Jos was within ten minutes. ”You always have been. Such an amusing little chew toy that I can spin in circles as much as possible until I'm finally bored with you.” He knew that voice, but couldn’t exactly put a name to it, maybe he was just too excited to see Jos. How long had it been since he actually spent time with his eldest cousin? “I'm not a puppet either. You do recall that you're my younger sister, don't you? If anything, you should be my puppet.” There was no mistaking that for Jos's voice. He rounded a bookshelf and there Jos was, along with Callista. How did he not recognise that it was her? More importantly, why did she consider Jos a chew toy, it just wasn’t right. He would never treat a sibling like that, no matter what. "Jos, Calli," he greeted his two cousins. Josceline and Callista Nott. 512 Words. TEMPLATE BY OH SO COOPERNATURAL ! @ CAUTION.

[CALLISTA CAIN NOTT]

((Kinda blah. Sorry.))


She knew that she was slowly getting under Jos' skin, just like Calli was hoping. It was a slow, steady process, but she could see the hufflepuff's nerves fraying. Though the brunette wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen once Jos' patience broke, the slytherin was definitely looking forward to seeing the end result. It was like her birthday present to her darling older sister-- to get her to show her true, ugly yellow colors. She was genuinely curious, in a weird morbid sort of way, to see what Jos would be like in pure, unadulterated rage. About the only thing she didn't expect was any personal injury toward her. Jos might get angry, but she wasn't the violent type. For her, there wasn't a single hufflepuff that was genuinely violent without being stupider than the average house student. Call it a benefit of the badger house, but to Calli, that was just another reason to laugh at them.

A house that couldn't defend themselves was bound to fall after all. Other than them just simply being inferior, their incompetency in defending themselves made them easy prey for the snakes. At the idea of a pair of hufflepuffs, of all things, would actually would win the tournament genuinely made her abrupt into laughter. It wasn't something she could possibly fathom; it was so ludicrous to her. "Last I recall, you would actually have to win a task to get the tournament," she pointed out with overdramatic condescension in her voice, "Unless one of the tasks includes taking the most pathetic beating, I don't think they'll get very far." Her smile quickly fell into a smirk, "Thanks for the laugh though! It was a nice preview for the first task. I'm going to enjoy seeing your despair there as well!"

At the idea of being Jos' puppet, the slytherin couldn't help erupting into laughter once more, easily disregarding the suggestion immediately. Her? Being a puppet to a measly badger, least of all being her older sister's puppet? She couldn't help wondering just where Jos got the idea from. She was about to respond, but was quickly sidetracked by the greeting from Scorpius. Callista brightened into a large grin at the sight of her house's champion. The girl had been excited when she had heard Scorpius' name called as a champion, happy to be related to someone that would be bringing glory to the slytherin house. "Hello, Scorpius!" the slytherin greeted in return. She was a little disappointed to have her torturing be cut short, but it was only temporary, Callista would make sure.

"You came just in time," she explained, "Josceline was just telling me a very funny joke. She thinks the hufflepuffs are going to win the tournament this year."

[/justify]

[JOSCELINE AVALON NOTT]

Just when Jos thought Calli couldn’t possibly exhibit more unnecessary superiority and arrogance, the Slytherin somehow managed it. However had this encounter occurred a few years ago, Jos might not have the same thoughts for she had been almost just about as arrogant back in her first year as her sister albeit in a slightly more subtle way. To say that being in the house of Hufflepuff had changed Josceline would not be incorrect but whether or not it was for the better or the worst would depend on the person. As expected, the Hufflepuff did not enjoyed being patronized, especially not by her younger sister. It was soon becoming clear that there was little that Jos could say to change her younger sister’s opinion of Hufflepuffs. To be fair, much of the blame could be put on Calli herself. The blame could truly and rightfully be put on the Nott family’s intense prejudice against Hufflepuffs. However just as she was about to respond to Calli’s highly obnoxious taunts, her response was cut off by the appearance of a new individual in their midst.

By the very sudden and random appearance of her cousin as he suddenly appeared from behind a bookcase, Jos was noticeably taken aback. “Hi Scorpius,” she greeted politely. Jos smoothed her skirt in a habit of nervousness and self-consciousness. She was never too comfortable with the idea of other people aside from Calli and select members of her immediate family seeing this ugly side of her. Jos was only hoping that her cousin had witnessed very little or none of her close fit of temper. In fact, Jos was not all the comfortable with that side of her at all. It just so happened that Calli seemed to be extraordinarily talented at pulling that dark side out of her.

Given Scorpius’ sudden arrival, Jos was able to have a moment of reprieve from Calli’s constant taunting, if only for a minute. As such she was able to refrain her temper from exploding noisily and with vigour to her relief. Hearing her sister resuming taunting in front of Scorpius, Jos refrained from speaking as she was too busy biting down on her tongue to prevent an angry and defensive retort from escaping. After a brief space of time had passed, allowing her to recollect herself, Jos spoke again. “It wasn’t a joke,” she replied slowly as if she was still attempting to rein in her temper and to be diplomatic yet maintain her integrity in her true beliefs. “Although I do believe that you are a fantastic champion for Slytherin Scorpius, I do think that Hufflepuffs will win this year. We have a great pair of champions,” she said with a small smile albeit a bit hesitant and a small amount of pride. Although she was used to being surrounded by Slytherins, Jos felt a bit overwhelmed by their majority presence due to the subject matter.