[M] Magical Mindscapes IC - G & Preach

[Preach]

The entire Gryffindor Quiddich team had spent the rest of the day relatively happy; they clearly had the upper hand as they'd gotten more practice in. They had thanked Ian for his 'sacrifice' and he had amicably played along-- though, obviously, they'd only joked once it became clear that he was going to be okay. Aderyn, however, was still a bit perturbed by Raphael and his sudden intervention. She simply didn't know where that had come from, and, moreover, why it bothered her so much.

It must have been the crying from the day before. Making people cry was the worst.

So Aderyn stuffed her face at dinner and laughed along as the rest of her house table poked fun at the Slytherins. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had gotten in the spirit, too, and Ian's twin brother, Dean, who was in Hufflepuff, vowed that the entire house would be on the Gryffindor's side during the upcoming match. Geoffrey did not mention Archer at all, and if he'd seen the apology in her eyes he didn't make it obvious. All through this, Aderyn was still inexplicably uneasy. And for some reason Natalie was also oddly quiet; oddly pensive... but Aderyn was too distracted to notice. She was thinking about detention.

With these turbulent thoughts in mind she headed to detention and was slightly less late than she had initially planned on being. She must not have realized how fast she was walking. A part of her, though, now agreed with Archer: the sooner this is over with, the better.

Aderyn poked her head around the corner of the detention room and saw Filch. With the same chains as before. He was making good on his promise that they would be working on them tonight, too. The beautiful silver cloths were laid out on two desks in front of him.

"Alright, you two," he said, as soon as the two girls were present. Aderyn chose to stand rather than sit. "Finish up, and I mean it. I don't care what match you've got coming up or whether it's at dawn, but you will be here 'till dawn if these chains aren't nice and shiny by the time I check on you."

He began to leave, with his cat in tow.

"What if we finish early?" Cadogan said, quite loudly and quite earnestly.

Filch looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, then he laughed, louder and more honestly than Aderyn had ever heard him laugh before. He was clearly mocking her. She frowned and flushed and pouted; he was laughing too loudly for her to get a word in edge-wise.

Laughing, he made to leave the room, as long as Archer had nothing to say to him.

[G]

Ella was already seated when Aderyn arrived, making a show of fussing with her already immaculately clean fingernails in an obvious attempt to avoid conversation with Filch. There were only so many times you could listen to his fervent recollections of the days when he had been allowed to suspend students from the rooftop by their armpit hair. Shuddering at the thought, the Slytherin reached for the cloth with a low sigh, seemingly no more inclined to speak to - or make eye-contact - with Aderyn than she was to the caretaker.

She barely reacted to the laughter; a perfect opportunity for an unfriendly smirk over Cadogan's discomfort. The way Lila was acting... she couldn't help the sinking feeling that something was seriously wrong with her friend. As if the events of the day hadn't been enough to put her at odds... concern wasn't something Ella was particularly accustomed to, let alone worrying. But she did care about Lila. Perhaps she hadn't realised how much until Aderyn had called it into question the day before.

And then he said it - what was that muggle expression, speak of the devil... As he left the room, the chuckle still dying in his throat, Filch made a noise of complaint, muttering, "Patrol time again, my pretty. Let's check the seventh floor first... if I catch that redhead skulking 'round up there again, she'll be sorry! Up to no good, I can see it in her eyes..."

Ella's eyes shot upward as Filch's voice trailed off along the corridor, looking for Aderyn's response - had she heard him? He had to be talking about Lila! Or was she just jumping to that conclusion because she'd only now been thinking of the girl? And why would she want to talk to Cadogan about it anyway! Frowning, she reached for the chain, polishing it with rather more vigour than was necessary.

"What is she up to?" she muttered, not really aware she had spoken aloud. She didn't need this right now! Not with the game tomorrow. Lila was so selfish, really!

[Preach]

Aderyn cleared her throat awkwardly. Then she did it again and shuffled around, scuffing her already scraped up once-black shoes. The Gryffindor heard what Filch said and frowned, initially thinking he was referring to her. But that made no sense! With that, she put it out of mind entirely and picked up the cleaning cloth.

Then Ella said something, and Aderyn looked at her and pulled a face. "Youurreee talking to yourself. That's weird. Y-" she stopped short, her mouth hanging open for a second or two before she shut it. She had been about to make a 'you have no friends' joke. But then Archer might cry, and... that wouldn't do, would it?

"You know it won't work unless we're both scrubbing, right?" She made a grumbling sort of noise and set to work, too, since she just wanted to get out of here and away from the insufferable Slytherin.

"Hey, ok, I just want to finish as quick as we can since I don't want to spend my night here. Gotta get my sleep on, you know? Though I guess you might not know, seeing as you gotta catch up on your training..."

But, clearly, some part of Aderyn had been thinking about Lila, too, since she added, "Tomorrow, Lila'll watch and cheer for you, no doubt. I always felt bad when she did that since it must be awful cheering for the house that's going to lose." Her tone was slightly bitter, but then she laughed, but it was more of a snort than a laugh. "If she even shows up, I mean." Aderyn 'mm'ed slightly, tilting her head as they made surprisingly quick work of the chain, "Probably won't."