The Griffin and the Serpent

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Waiting near the entrance of the Gryffindor common room was Evelyn, a scowl perpetually stuck on her face. She was already not the most approachable of people to begin with, and as her patience wore thinner with each passing second, her foul mood got worse and worse.

She would have left a long time ago, if not for the fact that the person she was hoping to speak to was Laguna Lestrange. That Gryffindor heartbreaker had been hanging out with Riley of late. She didn’t disapprove of their friendship – unlike Percival, and that was a different matter that she needed to resolve – and judging from his behaviour when he called on Riley in the Hospital Wing, he did seem like a pretty decent guy after all. (Eve had intended to visit Riley that very day, but Laguna had beat her to it and she had left even before sending her regards to her injured teammate.)

Still, Eve wasn’t the sort to leave anything to chance, and it seemed prudent to extract a promise from Laguna that he wasn’t messing around with Riley. And if Laguna was indeed sincere in his dealings with Riley, she would owe him a word of thanks too for his concern towards her teammate.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke Eve’s train of thought, and she looked up to see if the person she had been waiting for had finally deigned to grace her with his presence.

[Zeke Smith]

Zeke came out of the common room and stopped, spotting Evelyn, knowing exactly who she was from their Quidditch matches. He crossed his arms, raising a brow, "The captain of the enemy, what brings you to our doorstep?" he smirked a bit, "Come to ask for training tips?" a Cheshire grin spread on his face.

"I doubt she'd ask them from you," Sophie quipped as she also left the room though the look she gave Eve was a warning in and of itself- this would make its way into The Witches' Brew. She passed by her without saying a word though and Zeke rolled his eyes at her.

"You wouldn't know anything about it unless it came from gossiping hens," he muttered after the 7th year before looking back to Evelyn, "For real though, why are you here?" While he was certainly not the captain of the Gryffindor team, the captain was his best friend and he wanted to sus out the situation and know if he needed to intervene on his friend's behalf. Not that Lag couldn't handle himself.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

The Slytherin quidditch captain rolled her eyes at the unwelcome intrusion from Zeke Smith, a fellow Sixth Year and Beater, but from the Gryffindor team. “I’d be sure to seek you out if I ever need advice on how to be a frivolous fool who’s all show and no substance,” she snapped testily. Her venom wasn’t directed specifically at Zeke – by now most of Hogwarts was aware that she didn’t discriminate and hated almost everyone else equally. “And I’d advise you to wipe that smirk off your face before I do it myself with a Bludger the next time I see you on the pitch,” she added with a death glare to back up her words.

She swept her steely gaze over to Sophie. “Do as you please, Wright. I can’t control what you write, but then again, neither can you control who a snake bites.” It was a thinly-veiled threat, albeit one that the Parselmouth couldn’t even be fucked to remember, much less enforce. Her reputation was bad enough already as it was, and any further negative articles about her wouldn’t be able to do any appreciable damage anyway.

With the gossipmonger out of the way, Eve saw no reason to deceive Zeke. He was perfectly harmless, and he’d probably learn about the truth from Laguna later anyway. “I’m here for Lestrange,” she said plainly and flatly. As for the reason why she was seeking Laguna out, she opted to omit that particular detail for now. Technically that wasn’t lying, and besides she didn’t deem it necessary for either Laguna or Zeke to know about this yet. “Don’t you worry, I’m not going to do anything untoward to him,” she added with a sly grin of her own, using her house’s notoriety as a way to mess with Zeke’s mind. “There’s no need to resort to underhanded means when we can beat you fair and square on the pitch.”

[Zeke Smith]

Sophie didn't seem remotely phased by Eve's threats, she'd certainly pissed off enough people to get plenty of threats and know most people were unlikely to follow through on them.

Zeke snorted at the threats, smirking, but bit back his taunts for now. His brows shot up though when she said she was there for Laguna, "Then what's this about if it ain't Quidditch," he said, crossing his arms, "He's not just my team captain and he's enough snakes wrapped around his neck for a lifetime," he scoffed, shaking his head, meaning mostly how Riley and Miral, but there were certain plenty of Slytherins that either new Laguna through family means or Quidditch and classes, "And I'm not about to play fetch for someone who ain't even got a sense of humor," he added as a grumble.

The whole bravado would be ruined if Lag were to walk out right about now, buuuut he'd keep going until he either did show up or she gave him an actually good reason to go get him.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Eve made a grand show of rolling her eyes when Zeke said that Laguna had “enough snakes wrapped around his neck for a lifetime”. “Oh, puh-lease,” she replied without missing a beat. “You speak as though he’s not a snake himself. And there’s nothing shameful about being one.” Dripping from her voice was not venom but sarcasm. Sure, her family – and Laguna’s – didn’t have a pristine reputation, but she sure as hell wasn’t ashamed to be a Darke Goldman. If anything, she wanted to prove to her detractors that she wasn’t going to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a pure-blood supremacist, or worse, a Death Eater for the next Dark Lord.

“No sense of humour?” Eve shot back with mock anger, and she arched a questioning eyebrow at Zeke’s words before advancing slowly towards him. “Should I tell you a joke right now to put a smile back on your pretty face?” She paused for a few moments, as though she was actually going to do just that. “Or maybe not. My sense of humour might be too Darke for an innocent soul like yourself.”

If she couldn’t convince Zeke to fetch Laguna, perhaps some reverse psychology might work. “You know what? Never mind,” she said, pretending to turn and leave. “I couldn’t care less if Lestrange got himself beaten to an inch of his life by Percival.”

[Zeke Smith]

Zeke snorted at her calling Laguna a snake too, about to protest, but something seemed to stop him. It hadn't been what he meant with the snakes comment, but it would be fine for her to take it at that interpretation. When she made the comment about her sense of humor being too dark, he rolled his eyes, realizing after a moment it was a play on her name. When she made the comment about him getting beat by Percival though, he started to laugh.

"Yeah, right, I'd love to see that prick try," he scoffed, "What's gonna do, brood and scowl at him until he gives up?" he put his hands on his sides, "Thanks for the heads up though, I'll make sure to pass it on. Though I'd loooove to see what happens to dear Percy if Miral finds out he's threatening Lag," he smirked. As muuuuch as he did not like Miral, he was well aware she was not beyond dirty tricks when it came to Laguna. Her sense of loyalty could be truly terrifying.

"Is that really what you came all the way here for? Why bother in the first place? Percival's your housemate and your teammate, arrogant ass that he is," Zeke tilted his head a bit, quirking a brow. It didn't add up to him, but hell, he didn't know how these purebloods thought... he squinted a tiny bit at that thought process, but didn't lose focus on the conversation at hand.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Zeke’s mention of Miral’s name stopped Eve in her tracks, and she spun around and glared at the Gryffindor. She knew of Miral’s friendship with Laguna, and understandably the Seeker would be royally pissed if Percy laid a finger on Laguna. But there was no point getting mad at Zeke for pointing out the truth when her frustration should be directed towards her teammates for their propensity for fighting amongst themselves. “I will keep my team in line, don’t you worry,” she growled instead.

“What do you take me for, Ezekiel Jameson Smith?” she demanded, her anger rising for real as the Gryffindor expressed doubt at her motivation for seeking Laguna out to warn him about Percy. “Some spiteful pure-blood Slytherin who feels nothing but hate towards Gryffindors? A Death Eater’s daughter who’s out to punish blood traitors for fraternalising with Muggle-born?”

[Zeke Smith]

"So you were lying," Zeke said after she made the comment about keeping her team in line.

However, when she came at him, his eyes narrowed and his jaw went taut, "You're putting words in my mouth," he spat, "I was asking out of genuine curiosity not because I thought it had anything to do with me, but thanks for putting me on the pedestal. Turns out Lovet's the only Muggle-born in the picture and if anyone has an issue with him hanging around, he can handle himself. Thanks for showing you think we're only capable of so deep of a thought process though, it's rather enlightening," he said, enunciating the syllables of the last word, "I don't give a shit who your parents are, Darke Goldman, I've known enough people to out step those particular shadows, but it sounds like you need to work on that."

"Now. If you don't have anything actually useful to say or do here. Fuck. Off," he bit out the swear, his shoulders tensing in a way that said he had no issues with physically removing her. He didn't doubt it would be a knockdown drag-out fight, but she just lit the kindling of a fire that had been smoldering under the surface since he'd been informed of his actual parentage.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Eve held her tongue when Zeke said she lying. She wasn’t – the only sin she was committing was one of omission – but the Gryffindor wouldn’t have known. Nor would she ever admit that she was here to thank Laguna – but only after he had proven to her that he wasn’t messing around with Riley.

It was only when Zeke’s tone changed and abruptly went off on a tangent that she couldn’t resist firing back. “Lovet?” she asked, completely blindsided by him dragging the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain into the picture. “What’s this got to do with him?” The rest of his tirade made much more sense though. “And thanks for being amongst the minority who look past my surname and judge me for being the bitch that I am then,” she riposted.

She would have goaded him on and fuelled his flames further as payback for obstructing her way, but there was something about his unexpected and uncharacteristic outburst that troubled her. Ignoring his invitation for her to ‘fuck off’, she pressed on with the questions that she had ended up with even though she had come to seek answers. “You’re cute enough to be this thick, so let me spell it out for you. I have no beef with you or Lestrange. Nor do I intend to have any. Now, that talk about Lovet being the only Muggle-born – what the bloody fuck was that about?” Despite the colourful choice of words, there was a shred of genuine concern mixed with confusion in her voice, and her tough-as-nails mask slipped by just the barest bit. Something was very off about him, she was sure of it.

[Zeke Smith]

Zeke scoffed at her question, "Right, because it wasn't a common thing around this campus of how Ryan and I were trying to hide behind Lag's pureblood status to hide our own "mudblood" ones," he scowled, "Turns out we were all wrong, even me," he muttered, the conflict in his eyes not one he was ever good at hiding. But he didn't want to talk about this with her.

"And if you have no beef then what the hell is your attitude about? All I was asking was why you were actually here. If you're capable of keeping that ass on a leash, then you're not actually here to warn Lag about him," it took a tick of a moment before he scoffed again, "This about that Riley girl, isn't it?" he shook his head, "What, is the entire Slytherin team a bunch of meddling, mother hens?" he rubbed the back of his head, "I don't know what you guys have in your head about him, but he ain't gonna hurt her, not on purpose. But she's not some kid who's incapable of making choices for herself and I doubt she appreciates the suffocation of people in her business," he said, shaking his head.

"Whatever they got going on is their business. Anyone who doesn't respect that doesn't really respect them, as far as I see it," he shook his head before taking a deep breath and starting towards the stairs, remembering finally he had been going somewhere when he'd run into her, "Have the day you deserve," he said, waving over his shoulder as he walked down the stairs.

[Laguna Lestrange]

There was definitely some echo of the conversation that floated through the corridors though muffled. It would be hard to catch the whole conversation, but no doubt there would be some people that would indeed catch bits and pieces and those bits and pieces would be in the rumor mill before supper that evening. It would prove to be fantastic to keep conversations and whispers ignited through the meal and into the common rooms that night.

Laguna was just approaching at the tail end, but he could distinguish at least /who/ the voices were. The pairing was odd, to say the least, and he wondered what it was that inspired the meeting between Zeke and Evelyn. There was not anything to indicate that they'd even had more than a handful of interactions (most on the pitch) in their years at Hogwarts. Laguna, on the other hand, knew both of them very well even if it were not for the same reason of being at school.

Before he'd managed to get to the duo, Zeke was already gone. Had the conversation gone sour? Laguna brushed it off and decided to greet Evelyn. As his mother and father would say, it was critical to maintain their relations with certain families.

"Ah, Evelyn. I thought I recognized your voice. To what do we owe the grace of your presence here in Gryffindor territory?" Part of him was very interested. It must be something big considering that Slytherins usually stayed far from this part of the castle unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

His blue eyes took her in. Similar to how he'd met Miral from a young age, he'd also been introduced to Evelyn through their families. The difference being that Miral's family seemed to have deeper ties to the Lestrange family than just about anyone else around. For that reason, he guessed that gave him more opportunity to have a deeper relationship with Miral. Evelyn was harder to read. Sometimes it seemed that was just part of her personality though. Maybe even if he'd spent more time with Evelyn he would still be unsure of her motives and unable to read her thoughts.

"If this is about the match coming up, I'm afraid we won't be able to take it easy on your team..." he joked, though as soon as he did, he was fairly sure she wouldn't appreciate the humor.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Eve bit her tongue and held back her words as Zeke spilled his insecurities about being a Muggle-born. She had always thought that, in the wake of the Second Wizarding War, they would face less discrimination than the Pure-bloods who had ties to the Dark Lord. Of course, such bigotry had no place in the world – be it as a sincere step in the right direction towards a better world or the need for political correctness – but she had always felt that, unlike blood supremacist, her haters could hide behind a shield of false righteousness. Evidently Zeke didn’t have things easy either… but what confounded her especially was that he said that everyone had been wrong, even him. That would be a mystery for another day, if she bothered (and remembered) to probe further.

Letting out a sarcastic laugh, she riposted in response to him accusing the Slytherin team of being ‘a bunch of meddling, mother hens’. “That’s grand, coming from someone poking his nose where it doesn’t belong.” But Zeke did guess that she had come to talk to Laguna about Riley, even though that she had in mind only obliquely concerned the Slytherin Keeper. Not that Zeke would bother to appreciate the difference when he had already formed his own incorrect opinions of Eve and her intentions.

At the very least, he was right on one count: whatever was going on between Laguna and Riley was their business, and not anyone else’s… until, of course, they made their problem Eve’s, and that was exactly what she wanted to pre-empt. “Look you gormless twit—“ she began, but Zeke was in no mood to linger. Rudely brushing her off, he started down the stairs, leaving her with no target to unleash her frustration.

“I swear I’ll wring his neck the next time I see him,” she cursed under her breath, but just as she was about to make her own exit, she heard a familiar voice. “Finally you deign to show up,” she sighed as the last vestiges of her anger evaporated. “What’s with Smith anyway? Did he eat a powder keg or something?.” In hindsight she shouldn’t have been so harsh towards Zeke, and likewise it wouldn’t be fair to lash out at Laguna. Especially since they were friends… well, kind of, at least. They had known each other since they were young, but they had never been close. Ever since the end of the Global Wizarding War, the Darke Goldmans didn’t command the same level of respect that other Pure-blood families such as the Lestranges did, and for that reason they were never quite able to hold their head high in the company of other Pure-blood families. Eve had grown up with this sense of insecurity, and for that reason she chose to keep her distance from her peers, protecting herself with her prickly nature and wearing her contempt and disdain as her armour. Nevertheless, Laguna was one of the few people whom she’d hold back and be more civil towards. Maybe it was something about him that made her feel that he was better than the other Pure-blood scions she had met, but whatever it was, she wasn’t going to admit it.

“As much as I’d appreciate an easy victory, it’s nowhere as satisfying as beating your team in a fair fight,” she replied. Despite her seemingly harsh choice of words, there was no malice intended. “Don’t worry, we’ll give your team no quarter either on the pitch. Presuming your team can beat mine, it wouldn’t be right for us to deny your team a well-deserved victory, would it?”

A quick check of her surroundings told her that nobody else was within earshot… or at least, as far as she could tell. “Also… t–thanks… for taking care of Riley,” she began haltingly, the words foreign and uncomfortable and clumsy on her tongue as she forced them out. But just as abruptly as that awkwardness started, it was gone, replaced by her usual sassiness. “Now, with that out of the way, whether or not you’re serious about her, don’t toy with her feelings or break her heart, you hear?” As much as she wanted to trust her, she wanted – no, needed – an assurance from him. “Because if you do, Laguna, I promise I won’t be the only one coming for your hide.”

The other person was, of course, Percy. Inwardly she groaned whilst keeping a poker face on. That was going to be another troublesome topic to broach.

[Laguna Lestrange]

Laguna got the feeling that he'd missed quite the interaction between Eve and Zeke, though he wasn't sure what Evelyn was talking about in terms of something being wrong with Zeke. "My apologies for keeping you waiting," he said playfully. Suddenly he felt a ping of guilt that he didn't know if something was going on with Zeke, though. "Er...I'm not sure what you mean." Recent events kept him busy and a little more absent from the Gryffindor common room and dorms. He still saw Zeke around and spent time with him, but when was the last time he really checked on Zeke? Without distractions. When he couldn't recall, he decided that he would catch up with him later. Maybe the two of them could find something fun to do that they hadn't done in a while. Maybe they'd even drag Ryan along. This year was full of new people...had he forgotten the ones that had been there all along?

Those thoughts would be for later when the day was over and he was winding down. He had plenty to think over this evening. For now, he wondered just what brought Evelyn to this side of the castle. Her response to his comment on the quidditch match was respectable. "I suppose it wouldn't be a very satisfying victory at all. In that case, aside from maybe wanting to catch up," he was sure she wouldn't come clear across the castle for that, "I'm afraid I don't know what brought you over."

Evelyn was quick to clarify her intentions. His cheeks burned a bit and he quickly waved it off, "Er...I was just in the hospital wing and saw her there. It was nothing." But that wasn't the end of it. Of course it wasn't. What had he expected anyway? For nobody to even turn their heads that the two were suddenly spending a little bit of time together? "Would I go out of my way to toy with someone's feelings?" That was something that probably wasn't the /best/ way to defend himself. Even if not intentionally, this year was full of little harmless flirts. Nothing he'd paid close enough attention to know if he'd actually hurt anyone in the process, so in his mind the statement seemed harmless enough.

He was curious about her last statement, "Oh? Will all of the big, bad Slytherins come to teach me a lesson? What are you on about?" Then it clicked, "Please don't tell me you're talking about Percy? I'd like to see him try anything." His fist balled up in his robe pocket. Riley...no Riley...he didn't care for Percy. He had half a mind to seek Percy out on his own time. Save the trouble of all the gossip and are they, aren't they questions, and all the like. His eyes were already eyeing the pathway toward the Slytherin common room.

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

Eve rolled her eyes when Laguna revealed that he too was in the dark as to what had overcame Zeke. While Zeke wasn’t her problem, still the situation annoyed her nonetheless, albeit temporarily.

As Laguna gave her his assurance that he wasn’t going to toy with Riley’s feelings, Eve gave the faintest hint of a nod. “I knew I could trust you,” she replied, relieved that she hadn’t been wrong about him. But her mood soured immediately when Laguna put together the other reason why she had sought him out – or more specifically, when he scoffed at that reason.

“Listen up, you—“ She was going to bluster her way through again when she remembered how swimmingly well that had gone down with Zeke, and she retracted her words as abruptly as her would-be-tirade started. A change in tack was required, and she chose to be upfront about it. “Look, I don’t want either one of you to get hurt, all right?” she said, hoping that would appeal to Laguna’s sensibilities. “Both of you are my friends”—she was using that word loosely here, considering how much closer she was to Percy—“and I do not want to see any conflict amongst my friends. So leave Percy alone and don’t rile him up, you hear?”

[Laguna Lestrange]

Laguna looked at Evelyn with an unreadable expression at her words. Trust. Between a lion and a snake? Was there such thing? Then he caught himself and quickly shook the doubt from his mind, because if that notion rang true and they couldn't ever really trust each other what did that mean for his relationships with Miral and Riley? So he took the statement to be genuine, even feeling a little more comfortable in her presence after hearing her statement. It was almost a moment where he was able to let his guard down completely. Almost.

His suspicions of Percy being a jealous idiot were now confirmed. A brow perked and he was perceptive of her initial approach, his body language tensing a bit, indicating the little moment they just shared built on the 'trust' was hanging on by a thread. The bold young Gryffindor was ready to defend himself, ready to fight back at the next words to come from her mouth. Only, she took a different route from what he'd expected. Again, he found himself rethinking his guard. Friends? Maybe. But most of the Slytherin 'friends' he had only had loyalties that extended so far. Evelyn would surely side with Percy should the need arise. Yet she was here. Her request to Laguna must mean that she found him to be the more reasonable of the two. Laguna liked to think that was definitely the case.

"Fine," he said at last. "I won't do anything..." But that wasn't the end of it. "I won't do anything to provoke him." He intended to stay faithful to the commitment. "You'd better be able to keep him in line though, because if he starts anything with me, I can't make any promises about that." It wasn't even that he wanted a fight. However, he knew himself and it was no secret he could be hot headed. Laguna looked Evelyn in the eyes and grew quiet for a moment. "Is that all you wanted?"

[Evelyn Darke Goldman]

For a moment Eve didn’t know her words would reach Laguna, but to her relief he agreed not to do anything that would aggravate Percy. Nonetheless, she knew that Laguna’s promise only solved half the problem, and that didn’t escape his notice either.

“Don’t worry, I will,” she said with more confidence than she actually had. It wouldn’t be easy to walk the talk, but failure was never an option for her – her pride simply wouldn’t allow for it. “You’re doing me a great favour already, and in return I’ll uphold my end of the bargain and keep Percy off your back.”

Eve’s mind was still somewhat preoccupied by how she’d keep Percy in line when Laguna asked if that was all she wanted from him. “Yes, that was what I wanted to talk to you about,” she replied. “Wanted, that is.” Ever since they started school at Hogwarts, there was something else about Laguna that bugged her. It wasn’t anything about him; rather, it was how their lives at Hogwarts were so diametrically opposite despite their similar backgrounds. For years she had kept silent about it, using her cold and prickly exterior as a shield to hide her true feelings, and expressing her discontentment under the guise of a friendly rivalry between her house and his. And she would have continued to conceal her thoughts, but somehow she felt that she couldn’t bear it any longer.

“How does it feel to be a Gryffindor?,” she blurted out, not knowing what compelled her to do so, but not regretting her irrational impulsiveness either. “How does it feel to be the first Lestrange to be sorted into Gryffindor?” Her tone was sharp and could almost be mistaken as anger or bitterness if not for the almost imperceptible tremble in her voice. And as she continued, her tone softened a touch as she continued, her voice dropping to a faint whisper. “Do you know how much I would have liked that? But no, fate saw fit to deny me my wish, just as it did when it made me a Parselmouth.” The anger and bitterness were still there, but in the context of her words it was clear that the only negative feeling she harboured towards Laguna was envy.