stop the tape and rewind // dashiell

[abraxas scorpius malfoy]

"Perhaps that's why you're having trouble, with Charms at least." Dash didn't seem to be doing particularly poorly in other subjects, despite the ease with which he could be distracted, but it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to apply a little more focus in the class he was having more difficulty with. While all of the professors believed their subject was the most important, Abraxas had to agree with the Charms professor, at least to an extent as he believed Transfiguration was also rather significant, something he enjoyed reminding his sister. She had her mind set on becoming an Animagus yet Transfiguration was probably her weakest subject. As much as Abraxas enjoyed Quidditch, he knew that his life as a wizard would require much more than throwing around a Quaffle, even if he did end up playing Quidditch professionally.

Abraxas frowned as Dash began to compare him to animals. "I suppose I'll take that as a compliment?" he replied, knowing that looking like a rabbit or a dog was far better than looking like a rat. Unless that dog was a chihuahua, in which case there wasn't that much difference. His father had always said that chihuahuas were basically rats on stilts. He laughed as Dashiell stated his reasoning for needing to know the spell and was pleased to hear that he had been trying to improve his performance of it. Abraxas concluded that as complex as magic was, Dash had to be getting at least part of the spell right for it to affect the right area, even if it wasn't quite as intended. If there was no hope at all of him getting it right then surely he'd have ended up summoning a donkey rather than changing the noises someone made, seeing as it wasn't always altered speech that came as a result of his spells.

Was he implying that he said stupid things frequently? Abraxas knew he made mistakes in what he meant to say, just like anybody else did, but it hadn't come to his attention that it was a regular thing he did. If h hadn't known Dash better, he'd have been offended but his friend never said anything remotely unpleasant unless he was joking. But then didn't they say that never a truer word is spoken than in jest? No, Brax was being far too analytical today. They'd always joked this way, why was he starting to question it now? Perhaps it was the underlying thought that there was a reason for Dashiell to dislike him? Ab didn't honestly believe this but he knew it was still a possibility, although with a very small probability. After all, Dash himself had said something along the lines of it not mattering to him. They were just as close as they had been yesterday, if not better friends now that Brax could be completely himself.

Dashiell's sudden outburst of laughter worried Brax somewhat but as he felt no physical discomfort when he spoke, he presumed that something else had gone wrong with his voice. "What? What did you do? That funny?" He'd have been better off pretending it had worked, though he knew Dash wasn't necessarily laughing at him, but then that would help him get better at all. Ab was glad for the counter charm to be cast and was thankful that he'd done it correctly. "Maybe Goldstein can tell you? The only thing I can think of is that you might be flourishing your wand too much. I suppose Charms requires a little more elegance to get elegant results." The wand movements had always been the trickiest part for Abraxas, although it was more a case of remembering which spell required which movement rather than being able to make the actual movement. "You wanna try again?"

[dashiell jameson peakes]

"Maybe." Dashiell had never expected Abraxas to call him out on never paying attention in his classes. He figured it was just accepted knowledge that he hadn't a care in the world for the delicate arts of magic. For Abraxas to show that rhetorical solution to Dashiell's inability with charms was to call out openly a taboo subject. Normally Dash would have had no problem with being shown the truth, but his face felt red froming being slapped with it, rather than simply shown. To prevent himself from making a regrettable comment just then, he decided to instead shove yet another cookie into his mouth. Grimly he thought to himself how Abraxas would next tell him he's didn't eat well enough, since he'd already scorned his study habits— even though he'd managed to only one do terribly on a written exam. Even still, those other times were based upon his ability to write in circles rather than actually know the subject material. Wasn't that skill in itself? Not to Abraxas— apparently he had to be rich, the centre of the group, and also always right. Unblinkingly, Dashiell tightened his jaw.

His current disposition against Abraxas — against him and his perfect hair, his romantic problems which were serious enough just to gain the spotlight again — led for him to ignore his friend's question, although he did smile faintly just to prevent any unwanted questioning. He wanted to be upset, but not actually make it too noticable. This was saying something for their friendship, for if he'd been upset at anyone else in the school, maybe even someone in their group other than Brax, he'd not have held his tongue. He was great at pointing out flaws and problems to professors, but wasn't so eager to discuss them with Abraxas and quickly covered. His blood had boiled, and now it was on simmer, as if ready for a match to be lit nearby. Dashiell thought he could feel a faint buzzing feeling coming from his arms.

"Not really that funny. I overreacted." Curtly, he looked away, as if pretending to be wondering where he'd placed an over-shirt. Quickly he found one, and slipped it on painfully slowly. Inside the material he was composing himself. When his head finally managed to poke out of the sweatshirt like a worm out of an old apple, he was ready and far less upset in his demeanour. "We don't have to try again. I forgot that I had a Transfiguration essay due soon and I haven't even started. If I don't start now, I'm not so sure I'll finish at all. It's a lost cause to try to squeeze elegance out of me." Despite his previous emotions, he'd never once lied. Even now he'd not made up an excuse to stop practicing. He had a legitimate assignment when he'd not yet started. He was also too rough and rowdy for a class like charms. Dashiell began to bend over the side of the bed, bringing up with him a brick of a textbook, and another brick of parchment paper.

[abraxas scorpius malfoy]

Abraxas thought he may have been slightly insensitive in pointing out where Dash was going wrong but he hadn't meant to be unpleasant, not in the slightest. The short reply he received made him wonder if he'd upset Dash. How awful of him! He'd been nothing but understanding in helping Brax with his problem and now that it was time to repay the favour, he'd simply made his friend, his best friend, feel even worse. Abraxas felt the urge to apologise but didn't really know how. After all, if he had upset Dashiell then the damage was already done. The only thing he could really do was hope that his fellow Gryffindor knew him well enough to know that he hadn't meant it to be unkind. Knowing his luck, he'd have been over-analytical again and just annoyed Dash by apologising for something that wasn't a problem.

There was something a little strange about him though. He seemed oddly quiet. Even when he wasn't talking, there was normally some other sign that he was active in the world. At the moment, he appeared particularly docile and Brax referred back to his earlier in search of a reason for this. He watched as Dashiell retrieved the necessary items for his Transfiguration essay. Abraxas would have offered to share the task with him and write his as well but by some miracle he'd managed to convince himself to get it done during his previous Muggle Studies lesson, seeing as his teacher had failed to show up for one reason or another and Dashiell had been unavailable due to his Arithmancy class. As such, he wouldn't have been able to contribute a great deal.

Abraxas found himself sitting on his bed feeling rather awkward. There was still the nagging thought that he'd upset Peakes and it was becoming harder to convince himself that he hadn't as the silence continued. "Dash, are you alright?" He asked, not entirely comfortable with how he was behaving. Of course, it wasn't his place to judge the beater or expect him to act in a certain way in order to make him feel comfortable but if he'd said something wrong, which he was quite sure he had, then he wanted to at least make an effort to repair any fractures that had been caused.

[dashiell jameson peakes]

Was he okay? Now that Dashiell was being forced to consider whether he was okay or not, he lost a portion of his frustration. What exactly had he been angry at Abraxas for? It wasn't that he had forgotten what Brax had said, but he couldn't quite think of what had bothered him about it. It would have just as easily been he who made the comment— knowing Dashiell's loud mouth it probably would have been said a lot more tempered about it also. He only knew that his blood had ignited like there'd been a spark, and it sent him off the edge a bit. Either from his expulsion of emotion or from their earlier game of tag in the Quidditch Pitch, Dashiell only knew he felt tired. It wasn't an absurd thought that Dashiell might have lashed out had he only gotten a few hours of sleep, but he'd gone to bed rather early. That last evening he'd complained that there was nothing interesting to do — ignoring his Transfigurations essay per his usual disinterest — and eventually ended up sleeping instead of being productive.

"I think I'm just tired. I dunno. Maybe it's my time of the month." Yep, folks, Dashiell did in fact just make a menstrual joke. Probably not the most appropriate thing, but it was a common joke amongst the muggle boys at the retail store he worked at. Dashiell had picked it up without really knowing he'd done so. He flipped noisily through his Transfigurations book, which had more dog-ears, tiny tears, and written-in notes than the whole library. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I know you weren't meaning anything." As the effects of the suspicious anger died out with his hunger, Dashiell found himself at odds with his behaviour. It was completely justified for if it wasn't he'd never have treated Abraxas that way. At least, he thought so. He'd felt his hurt, his anger. He wasn't the sort to likely take pain at anything, choosing instead to laugh it off with his typical simplicity. On the other hand, if Abraxas was now taking the time to make sure that he hadn't said something that might have upset Dash, then it had to have been Dashiell's folley. He trusted his friend not to insult him and then wonder whether he was okay or not. It didn't make any sense.

"I think I might get some sleep. Sorry." It might have been a short apology, but anyone that knew Dashiell would know that his pride was very strong and he'd hated to apologize. In fact, he'd very well write two essays and attend detention for talking back to a professor, rather than apologize to them if he deemed they didn't deserve it. Now that he considered sleep, he'd felt like he'd ran a mile, if not more.

(we can close this around here, if you'd like, and start another one where the fun really begins. i think it'd be the most sensible thing to do :3)

[abraxas scorpius malfoy]

Dash had no idea how reassuring it was for Abraxas to hear that he was fine. He nodded with a smile as his friend explained that he was probably just tired and was thus a little more sensitive, although others might have used the word grumpy. Brax hated being deprived of sleep and could get quite ratty himself, in which case Dashiell was doing well to be so civil while he was tired. "Nah, don't worry about it. Probably wasn't the best thing to say anyway." The important thing for Abraxas was that he hadn't offended Dash. Now that he was sure he hadn't upset him, or at least that he'd been forgiven for upsetting him, Malfoy would do his best to forget about it and carry on with their friendship.

"Okay, no worries." Considering the morning's events, it would probably be best to give Dashiell a little space. It would probably have been a little awkward for him to just sit there and wait for Dash to wake up again. "I need to find Goldstein anyway. I borrowed his quill in Astronomy and haven't given it back to him yet." With that, Brax stood up and had a quick search through his trunk for the aforementioned quill. "Sleep well," he called over before walking towards the entrance to the dormitory and heading down to the common room and out into the castle to find the Ravenclaw.

notes: sounds like a plan.