Quentin Reuben Flack
Hogwarts Student
7th Year Ravenclaw
You won't like me when I'm angry...
Posts: 14
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Post by Quentin Reuben Flack on Jan 10, 2010 20:17:31 GMT 1
It wasn’t fair! Transfiguration was his thing, the one subject he was guaranteed to get better grades than irritating, stupid, bane of his existence Mackenzie Eaton. Except she wasn’t stupid and that was the problem really. Quen wanted to be the best in his year, to prove beyond a doubt that he was better at magic than some stuck up purebloods even though he’d lived the first eleven years of his life as a muggle. And it was working... Mostly. It would be working better if not for perfect Mackenzie with her perfect grades and her perfect... hair!
Quenten huffed, crossing his arms and glaring across the transfiguration classroom at the back of her blonde head. Class was almost over and they’d just got back their results for the latest pop quiz, a test where they’d had to turn their textbooks into turtles and back. His had been good turtles, if a little papery, a good solid O. But Mackenzie’s had been better, top of the class perfect in fact, and now Quen was fuming. As soon as class was dismissed he stood, stalking across the room to catch her before she could escape.
”How did you do it?” He demanded, arms still crossed and voice slightly more whiney than he’d been hoping for. Sure he was annoyed that she was beating him, but she was also attractive enough that he didn’t want her to think he was irritating. In truth he’d always had a bit of a crush on her, but she always seemed to have another boy on her arm, somebody much cooler than he was, so he’d never really had the chance to talk to her. She was single now, if the gossip was to be believed, and so he didn’t want to ruin his chances entirely.
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Post by mackenzie on Jan 10, 2010 20:34:57 GMT 1
Mackenzie smiled when she got her mark back. Her turtle had been perfect, cute, slow and stupid. The teacher had gushed about how good it was while she sat in her desk, basking in the glory of being top of the class. That was what kept her going, attention. It didn't matter if it was from her peers or the teachers, as long as they were looking at her, praising her she was happy. Of course that never happened at home. With her parents it was always "Mackenzie do better. An E is simply not acceptable. Anything less than perfect is a failure." But here at Hogwarts she was different, at school she was the golden girl. Destined to go places.
And she wanted to go places. Mackenzie had her eye on one job and one job only, Minister for Magic. As the teacher dismissed the class she scooped her books, up in her arms and turned sweep out of the class. She could feel some of her peer's eyes on her and kept a bright knowing smile on her face. The way a celebrity smiles at her adoring fans, because that's what they were to her. As she walked towards the door she was stopped by a boy.
"How did you do it?" He asked and she paused, not letting her smile falter. She looked him over with her bright blue eyes. He was taller than her, dark hair, kind cute, and a Ravenclaw. He had been in her classes since her first year and his name was Quentin Flack.
"How do I do what?" She asked innocently shifting so her textbooks, and former turtle, were on her left arm. She reached up and ran her left hand through her long curly hair. She shook her head a little, letting the curls shake out and smile flirtatiously at him. She had broken up with her last "boyfriend" - if you could call him that - and was always looking for a new guy. It wasn't hard, Mac was one of the most desired girls, seventh year, Slytherin, and to her being desired was everything.
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Quentin Reuben Flack
Hogwarts Student
7th Year Ravenclaw
You won't like me when I'm angry...
Posts: 14
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Post by Quentin Reuben Flack on Jan 10, 2010 20:59:15 GMT 1
Mackenzie was smiling that knowing smile of hers, the one he’d seen on her face countless times in class when she knew the right answer or got some praise from a teacher. It was infuriating, made even worse by the fact that he knew he would be wearing that exact same smile had he been top of the class. Except Quen just looked smug when he smiled like that, on Mac it was attractive. She was confident and cool and so out of his league it wasn’t even funny. He shook his head, determined to concentrate on transfiguration and not how pretty she was, that would only make him flustered and he wanted, just once, to try and hold a conversation with a pretty girl without saying something stupid.
She breezed over to him, meeting him halfway and making everything look so graceful, although the way she looked at him as he spoke confirmed he’d only cut her off on her way to the door and she hadn’t actually been heading in his direction. Mackenzie Eaton didn’t talk to people, they spoke to her and if they were lucky she might grace them with a reply. Quen wished he could reach that level of popularity, but it was the kind of status only achieved by purebloods and quidditch players.
”The turtle.” He explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mackenzie knew what he’d been talking about, he could tell from the knowing smile on her lips. He tried and failed not to follow the path of her hand through her long blonde hair with his eyes. ”Nobody can transfigure an inanimate object to a live one so perfectly on such short notice.” Quen griped, even though he knew he’d be perfectly capable if he’d just practiced a little more. ”Nobody except you it seems.” He added, unable to resist flirting back. A little praise went a long wait with somebody like Mac.
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Post by mackenzie on Jan 10, 2010 21:14:10 GMT 1
Mackenzie knew that she had an affect on the people around her. They couldn't help but look at her, and want to be her, and that was the way she liked it. She was the the one every boy wanted and every girl wanted to be, or at least almost all of them, not that that mattered to her parents. To them the only thing that mattered were things that could be recorded, documented and framed, all O's on reports, head girl, things like that. Not that she had the head girl position. Despite her perfection, her perfect marks, groups of friends and outstanding status she hadn't made that cut, something her parents had been furious about.
She and her parents had yelled for hours back and forth. Them saying she was a failure and a disappointment. She had screamed a them that she did everything she could to make them happy, worked harder than anyone but they never gave her any credit, their only response t that was if she worked harder than anyone she would be head girl. After that they had left and she had collapsed, sobbing, but no one at Hogwarts would ever know that. They would never see her weak side, because Mackenzie Eaton never cried in front of anyone. She would not be anything less tan perfect.
As she pointedly looked Quen up and down again she smiled. "Oh that, that was nothing," She waved a hand dismissively, "I just practiced, anyone could do it." But she knew that wasn't true, not many people could do that at the spur of the moment, but it was always a good idea to act gracious and humble. "I could help you if you wanted." She offered smiling her brightest smile at him.
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Quentin Reuben Flack
Hogwarts Student
7th Year Ravenclaw
You won't like me when I'm angry...
Posts: 14
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Post by Quentin Reuben Flack on Jan 10, 2010 21:42:35 GMT 1
Nothing! Quentin hid his frown of irritation by ducking his head and letting his hair fall forwards. It was getting too long again, but like most teenage boys a haircut was about the bottom of his to do list. Besides he thought he looked rather dashing when he flicked it out of his eyes, even if his friend Kale just said he looked stupid and girly. He lifted his gaze again, smile back in place although now it was slightly strained. Transfiguring a turtle from a textbook wasn’t nothing and both of them knew it. Matchsticks to needles and all that first year stuff was nothing, but once live creatures were involved it became a lot more difficult.
”I don’t need help!” He protested sharply, his ego taking a hit at her offer. It might have been an innocent comment, but you could never tell with a Slytherin. If anything he should be tutoring her, he’d got an outstanding in the O.W.Ls and he’d heard she’d only got an E. But he had just enough sense not to mention that out loud, mentioning a girl like Mackenzie’s short comings was never a good idea. ”I just need to practice a little more myself, still got an O on raw talent alone.” Quen couldn’t help gloating just a little bit. Transfiguration was his best subject after all.
He came to the sudden realisation that if he left it there she would soon lose interest in the conversation and move on. There were plenty of boys interested in Mackenzie and if he lost his chance now he might not get another. ”Hey maybe we could study together sometime, though!” Quen suggested, it would practically be a date, he couldn’t wait to tell Kale about this. ”Your turtle was very cute.” He complimented. Like most teenage boys he didn’t see animals the way girls seemed to and cute was a word he’d never usually use to describe anything, but it was worth a shot to get in her good books. ”You could show me how you got the pattern on the shell.” Helping and showing were two very different things in Quen’s mind.
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Post by mackenzie on Jan 10, 2010 22:12:07 GMT 1
Mackenzie did know that transfiguring books to turtles was advanced magic, but she liked to act like it was nothing. ”I don’t need help! I just need to practice a little more myself, still got an O on raw talent alone." He snapped and she recoiled like she had been slapped. She knew that he had got an O in transfiguration on his OWL's while she had only got an E. She stopped her blue eyes from narrowing in anger and instead kept a smile on her face.
"I was just trying to be friendly," She said shifting her books in her arms and getting ready to walk away, then he spoke again and she stopped to turn back to look at him. "Yeah we could," She said walking a few steps closer to him, so she didn't appear to be ready to dash away at any minute. "And the pattern's not that hard, I know you'll be able to get it easily, after all you're one of the smartest people I know." She said flirtatiously giggling a little.
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Quentin Reuben Flack
Hogwarts Student
7th Year Ravenclaw
You won't like me when I'm angry...
Posts: 14
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Post by Quentin Reuben Flack on Jan 11, 2010 13:37:56 GMT 1
Okay so maybe Quentin hadn’t been as subtle with his gloating as he’d thought. He might be in the top ten students when it came to his grades and yes he could practically brew a pepper up potion in his sleep or chart the path of mars across the sky in Astronomy with his eyes closed and one arm tied behind his back, but that didn’t mean he was quite to intelligent to navigating the social ladder. If he faced facts he’d only made it past the status of the typical Ravenclaw nerd with a lot of help from Kale and his willingness to do the popular kids homework back in 5th year.
And so when Mackenzie looked thrown off kilter by his O.W.Ls comment he couldn’t really bring himself to feel guilty, especially when reminding her how intelligent he was might make her like him more. Mac was the kind of girl who only showed an interest in somebody if they had something to offer her like an even higher social status than she already had for example. Just about the only thing Quen had going for him was his book smarts.
He tugged at the hem of his shirt that had somehow come untucked in frustration when she almost walked away, only succeeding in making himself look even more scruffy than usual. He’d been doing so well and then he had to go and blow it by being a pompous ass. But it seemed his last ditch attempt at complimenting her turtle helped and he puffed up with pride when she called him smart. Quen took a step towards her too, so that they were standing just a little bit too close for two people having a friendly chat without totally invading her personal space. ”I’m free right now,” He suggested with a grin, glancing around to see that most of the rest of their class had left while they’d been chatting and then leaning in a little closer still. ”I mean, if you wanted a little one on one study time.”
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Post by mackenzie on Jan 11, 2010 21:32:13 GMT 1
Mackenzie knew that if there was a person she should be afraid of beating her in classes it would be Quentin. He was practically a genius, good in everything, which was why he was a Ravenclaw. The Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's didn't really worry Mac when it came to competition academically, neither did the other Slytherins, it was Ravenclaw she had to watch out for. They were after all the witty ones with sharp minds. She figured as long as she stayed at the top of her game and worked her ass off it would be alright, it would have to be. After all she, Mackenzie Hope Eaton, was not going to settle for second place ever again. She may not have been named head girl but she would make sure she came ahead in everything else, and anyone who stood in her way would go down.
But for now why not have a little fun with the competition? She could see that look in his eyes, he wanted to get closer to her. And why wouldn't he? She was smart, popular and downright gorgeous, and she knew it. If only her parents could see her now, maybe they would see that she was at the top. Yeah when Muggleborns are put in Slytherin. The bitter thought spat at her, that was her "get real" voice and it told her when she was getting unrealistic in her dreams. She steered her thoughts away from her demanding parents and instead focused on Quentin.
She smiled up at him when he took a step closer. She had him in the palm of her hand now and it was all too easy. And the trap snaps shut. She thought triumphantly. "Well amazingly so am I," She said out loud glancing around the room with her bright blue eyes, she saw a few people glancing at them and kept a smile on her face. "And one on one study times sounds perfect." She practically purred like a cat. Then she turned and swept towards the door, she turned back to him, "Coming?"
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Quentin Reuben Flack
Hogwarts Student
7th Year Ravenclaw
You won't like me when I'm angry...
Posts: 14
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Post by Quentin Reuben Flack on Jan 14, 2010 0:36:23 GMT 1
This whole actually having a conversation with Mackenzie thing was going better than Quentin could have even dreamed of. Not that any dreams he’d ever had of his blonde haired classmate had ever been limited to something as innocent as chatting... But that wasn’t the point. The point was it was a miracle that he hadn’t done something stupid that had ruined it all yet. He hadn’t let nerves get the better of him and introduced himself like they hadn’t already known each other for seven years or babbled at great length about the applications of slug slime in potion making or accidentally just blurted that he wanted to kiss her. All of which were distinct possibilities and therefore major concerns for him.
”You are?” He asked the shock at her answer showing clearly on his face. Sure he’d just asked, but he’d never in a million years believed that Mac would ever take him up on the offer of actually spending some time with him outside of the classroom. Quen coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly as he realised he was supposed to be playing it cool. ”I mean, you are, that’s cool.” He shrugged like he didn’t really care either way, but the damage had probably already been done. Mackenzie had him exactly where she wanted him and to be honest Quen found that he didn’t mind one bit.
”Yep!” Quentin said hurrying after her a little too eagerly and looking rather like the cat that got the cream. This was officially turning into one of the best days of his life; it was almost worth coming second in class for. Almost. They’d find somewhere quiet and cosy, chat for a while and then... Well, if the things that were written on the bathroom walls about Mackenzie were true then she was definitely no prude. ”Did you want me to carry your books for you?” He asked in a sudden show of male chivalry, having to jog a few steps to get alongside her.
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Post by mackenzie on Jan 14, 2010 1:10:26 GMT 1
Mac was actually surprised with him. She had always thought of Quen as a Ravenclaw nerd, which he was, but he was actually more interesting and confident than she had thought. Mackenzie didn't really have a high opinion of other people, especially ones who threatened her throne. Quen obviously would never be as popular as her, but there was always the chance that if she wasn't careful he would replace her as the teachers' favourite.
She smiled a charming smile and her eyes lit up in silent laughter when he stumbled over his words. That was a reaction she got a lot from guys, unless they had a higher social status than her. "Of course," She said serenely, looking up at him with bright blue eyes. Mackenzie tossed her blond curls over her shoulder as she strode out of the room, and he hurried to catch up with her. She smiled cynically and before putting her charming smile back on her face and turning to look at him. She knew he hadn't seen her cynical smile, or if he had he would think of it as amazement. "It's alright," the Slytherin said brightly, "I'm not made of glass, but it's nice to know chivalry isn't dead, you're just so sweet." She knew this was exactly what he wanted to hear and it would make him feel special, but in truth he wasn't so different from all the other boys she had lured in.
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