Fake Friends Steal Reputations

Piper should been more respectful, she was sure, but was the Garden of Solace not supposed to be a place of escape. a place of peace? She just happened to be escaping her overprotective and overbearing sister, and peace for her meant that she had a cigarette in one had and a look or irritation settled on her face.

She wore a very Slytherin-esque outfit. She had recently come to the revelation that the best way to keep herself safe was to join the ranks of the Slytherin elite. It was a matter of forcing herself to deal with people and laying down her independence, as well as lying about her roots, but she had done worse to survive.

She layed down on a bench, her platinum blond hair spreading everywhere as she brought the cigarette to her darkly painted lips, closing her eyes. Her hand drifted to the edge of the bench, dangling above the ground, her cigarette ashing. She blew a column of smoke upwards and sighed.

This place really was peaceful. She could slow down here- stop the charades she put up for everyone. She liked to think she did not please anyone's needs, but some people needed her to push them away, so really she was just as much a people pleaser as Renny. These thoughts frustrated her. At least here, she did not have to face them.

“Damn it,” Darius spat, after his third unsuccessful attempt at destruction in the Garden of Solace. Apparentl y blasting curses didn’t work any better than incendio or diffindo on this rubbish.

This chintzy place had been developed in memory of all those who had died in the Battle of Hogwarts – or at least that’s what the plaque at the entrance of the forest had said – which only made Darius think of all the people he could annoy by defiling it. There were families, friends, neighbors of the deceased, not to mention just those who had participated in the battle and not done squat, but wanted to seem reverent or whatever…

But it seemed someone had headed off most of the miscreants, because each time Darius attempted to do any damage, protective spells blocked his progress. It was really quite annoying, when he got right down to it. The trees refused to burn, he hadn’t been able to chop down the rungs of the quaint little gazebo, and none of those lanterns had exploded when he sent the curses in their direction. This was turning out to be a complete waste of time.

As he had climbed the winding staircase above the gazebo, Darius had been reading the little plaques dedicated to those who had died in the battle, but had found the descriptions to be wholly uninspiring. Boring life descriptions and clichéd quotes about living on in memory. Darius had almost gagged. But upon reaching the top of the steps, Darius realized that in this case, he might be able to make some “improvements” that wouldn’t be stopped by the protective charms.

Pulling a small notebook and pen from his back pocket, Darius flipped to the first blank page and scrawled messily across it. When he was finished, he tore out the page and took five steps down to where he knew the plaque would read “Simon McLaggen”. And after casting an adhesive spell to the back of the notebook paper and stuck it over the vomit-inducing quote beneath the boy’s name. Now, it instead read:

”Measly little git. Couldn’t fly high enough to reach his father’s expectations. Must have sucked to be him.”

Pleased with himself for coming up with a way around the protective enchantments, Darius continued down the steps, adding his own commentary to the plaques of people he recognized, and even making a few up for people he didn’t recognize. At the base of the staircase, Darius was getting ready to put away his notebook and blow this joint when he spotted a girl lying on a bench only a few meters away. Smirking more deeply now, he reopened the notebook and moved to stand over her.

“Unidentified female. Beloved hooker. Died of chemical causes after the obscene amounts of bleach in her hair seeped into her brain and killed her. A terrible loss to the cosmetics industry,” Darius said aloud while writing the same words onto the piece of paper before tearing it off with a flourish.

“Would you prefer I stuck it to your forehead, or your chest?” Darius inquired with a deep smirk down at the girl on the bench, “Personally, I would choose the latter, but my motivations wouldn’t exactly be pure…”

Piper came here to get way with people- she did not have any secret desire to run in to anyone at all, because the company of No One was the best company of all, in her opinion. Her plan had been to lie there for awhile, worry Renny sick, get some fresh air, and leave late enough to piss of their grandmother. She did not expect to be interrupted. And not so crassly either.

Had she been witnessing the run in, rather than having to take part as the victim, she would have found his words entertaining once one understood he was assuming she was one of the 'fallen' or whatever. However, she did not like being called a hooker- bad memories of being called worse by her aunt. She also did not like people assuming she bleached her hair. Au natural. Why would she go out of her way to bleach her hair? She had no one to impress.

He continued on and she raised her hand straight up in the air, elegantly raising her middle finger, her eyes still closed. When they opened, the smirk that had been forming froze and she dropped her hand onto her stomach. Darius Flint. The boy that could make your life hell if he really wanted to try to. She licked her lips, trying to stall for time.

Piper had learned that her real goal should be befriending Athena Goyle's little gang of friends. She had wanted to stay under the radar, but that was not safe. This way, she could be at the back, doing little but receiving the added bonus of their protection. She just had to play her cards right and hide her roots. This was no time to be pissing off Darius Flint.

"Oh. Hi," she said lamely, at a loss for words. She did not know how to speak to people in general, let alone to males she was trying to get things out of- it was usually the other way around. She sat up, saying, "I didn't know who it was. For the record, my hair is not bleached. I'm getting tired of those rumors."

“Oops, we’ve got a live one,” Darius said slyly, pulling the piece of paper away from the girl’s raised fist, smirking at her choice of commentary on what he had said. He chucked to himself at how little she had had to say in order to get her point across. That was a good sign. Girls that talked too much were even more annoying than women in general. But he could put up with them, if given the right motivation. Plus, giving the finger meant the girl had spunk. At the very least she would present an interesting challenge to his verbal barrage.

When the girl’s eyes finally flicked open, Darius realized he vaguely recognized the skinny ragdoll on the bench. The name escaped him, but he knew she was Slytherin and that he had seen her a few times around with a dark-haired Ravenclaw girl. Her clothes was a confusing mix of trendy and alternative, and it didn’t give him an entirely clear picture of what lay beneath them, but he had seen enough to know that he wasn’t completely opposed to the idea of seeing her in less. And besides, at the moment, there weren’t other alternatives.

“It speaks,” Darius said dryly as the blond Slytherin mumbled her greeting, unimpressed by her eloquence. ‘Oh hi’ wasn’t exactly elaborate syntax, but he hadn’t approached this girl because he thought she was the next Shakespeare. He had approached her because she was… well, convenient.

“Well, for the record,” Darius responded, echoing her word choice while running a hand through his long-ish brown hair, “I still don’t know who it is. Or rather, who you are,” he said, not bothering to pretend recognition. In his experience, forgetting a girl’s name was almost a good thing. Women wanted to be memorable, and when they weren’t the first time, they tried much, much harder to make an impression.

“So you must not be as famous in the rumor mill as you think you are,” Darius added with a smirk. His tactics were not exactly gentlemanly, but they were effective. Girls his age were already self-conscious enough; all he had to do was cut them down a little bit so they needed his approval, and then it only took one or two compliments to make it seem like he was the most generous and charming boy they had ever met.

I wouldn’t be half as successful if they were smarter by half… Darius thought to himself, smirking down at the girl who had shifted to sit upright while he waited to see what her reaction would be.

He pulled away the paper, greeting her as something other than a corpse, though the comments were clever, though she would not admit it to to anyone. Wit always registered to her and made someone more likely to stay on her good side. A witty person hurling insults at her was more appealing to her than an idiotic person trying to relate to her.

At his words she realized he was asking for her name, and she turned her head up, her chin pointing at him so she could look down at him, even from where she was sitting. "Piper," she stated in a crisp, curt voice, not liking to use more words that necessary. she was incredibly articulate but she did not like to waste words on other people. They were typically lost on them anyway.

He had not seemed to have recognized her, not that she minded. That meant she was doing something right, because she had been aiming for anonymity her entire stay at Hogwarts. He continued on and she could not help but curl one of the corners of her mouth and raise an eyebrow into a scoffing expression. She had never said anything about being famous.

"I have no desire to," she said honestly. "The few people that have dared to make claims against my hair credit them to rumor." She crossed her arms and looked up at him, squinting critically at him- she should have been sucking up and trying to get on his good side, but she just could not bring herself to be anything more than slightly civil.

"So just out for a day of wreaking havoc against the dead- are they the only ones that put up with you anymore?" She smirked, raising her eyebrow higher.

“The Hero of Hamelin,” Darius replied quickly with a mock bow, upon learning her name was Piper. He couldn’t help but grin openly at all the potential her name held. There were so many one liners surrounding this name, and Darius couldn’t wait to use them all. If she’d heard them already, all the better; they’d get annoying that much faster.

As Piper reacted to his comment about her notoriety, Darius put his hands up as if to defend himself against her words. She was getting snippy, but she was also making her point. She was putting up a better fight than many girls did in her situation – you know, being tormented by Darius – which intrigued the older Slytherin boy. Most girls got their fight from somewhere, whether that was their past or someone in their present, and he couldn’t help but wonder where Piper got hers.

“Alright, go it. If you promise not to curse me, I’ll say nothing more about your hair,” Darius defended in mock subservience. It was obviously a touchy spot for Piper, which made it an automatic go-to for Darius, but it was really too easy. There had to be more buttons to press on this girl.

The skinny girl wasn’t going to let Darius run the entire conversation, however, and made that clear when she questioned his motivations for being there. It seemed she had a little bit to her, and more than a little bit of a cocky attitude, which made Darius smirk deeply. This one had fight in her.

“I’ve no trouble finding willing company among the living,” Darius replied suggestively, raising a confident eyebrow, “But as this conversation is so thoroughly proving, the dead put up much less resistance to my havoc.”

“But then again,” Darius said, moving quickly to sit next to Piper, closer than was socially acceptable and he knew it, “There’s something to be said for a challenge.”

Sometimes, the boy just couldn’t help himself.

Piper tweaked her lips and rolled her eyes at his comment. Yes, she heard quite a few jokes regarding the Pied Piper, and had done her research just so she could understand each and every research, even if most of them were juvenile and elementary jokes. She was surprised to hear Darius knew more on the subject though and she narrowed her eyes on him. Wasn't Darius supposed to be one-minded, as she had heard? What was this about being actually intelligent...

She chewed her lip, still struggling with the best way to handle this situation. As far as she knew- which was not much when it came to understanding the social forcast- Darius was still apart of her target group of people to try to ally herself with. She needed to get in, but how? Obviously, Darius could help but how did she get him to help her out. She may just have to feel her way through this situation...

He said he would stop and she let her lips twist into an almost smirk, though her expression still retained its iciness to be able to be a real smirk. "You drive a hard bargain', she quipped, but allowed the situation to settle, thinking it would not be good to already have a grudge against him.

At his words, she rolled her eyes. "A Slytherin male who thinks himself to be God's gift.. What a rare experience," she said, her voice light, yet laced with sarcasm. As he continued on, she felt a small smirk of triumph twist onto her face. So she was sending the right message.

He sat close to her and she stiffened immediately, a strange look coming onto her face, full of revolt and distaste, but there was conflict too, though it was clear not because she wanted him. It was clear his advances were not welcome- she was probably one of the few girls who were one hundred percent honest when she said that. It was because.. she needed him.

If this is what it cost, she could not continue on. She face forward, though she tilted her head to regard him out of peripheral vision, stating in a blunt tone, "The difference between a challenge and i is that a challenge is attainable." There was no challenge to her voice, like she wanted to prove her wrong. She was right on this subject and she would not budge. She did not need the group that bad.. did she?

Okay, so Darius had deserved the eyeroll for the Pied Piper comment. He hadn’t really expected that one to be the knock-out comment, but he couldn’t resist the urge to play on the name. People were touchy about their names; they formed their identities around them. That Gryffindor girl, Jack, hated her full name, which only made Darius use it more often. And then there was the Ice Queen, whom Darius never referred to by her given name or any variation of it. But for now, Darius would refrain from delving further into the nickname possibilities for Piper, because with the fight she was putting up, there would be a lot more alleys of attack.

“God had nothing to do with this gift,” Darius replied smoothly as Piper replied sarcastically to his defenses. Sarcasm seemed to be the only language she spoke, which was fine by Darius because it was his first and typically only (unless you counted scathing wit) language. It was rather surprising, however, that Piper should know who he was and yet have the gall to behave so poorly around him. Most people who knew Darius or at least knew of him weren’t the same people that put up a fight against his torments. He was an asshole, and anyone who knew it tended to do everything they could to avoid being the target of that particular trait.

But Piper was being intentionally difficult, and she seemed to think of that as a success, if the look of triumph on her face was any indication. But Darius wasn’t one to let anyone else – particularly a scrawny blond girl – have the upper hand in a conversation, so when he moved to sit close to her, Darius was pleased to see the smirk wiped off her face and replaced by sudden stiffness. This was perhaps not the perfect reaction in Darius’s mind, considering she was female and passably attractive, but at least he had thrown her off her game. Girls like Piper were good for two things, in Darius’ mind: either they were good in bed, or they were good targets for his verbal darts. The best scenarios involved girls that fit both bills, but if Piper wasn’t of the mind to play the former, Darius would have no qualms taking full advantage of the latter.

“I wasn’t offering to attain you, love,” Darius responded easily to Piper’s cold defenses, looking down at his fingernails as though he were already bored of the conversation, “Just entertain you. But if you prefer the frigid approach, that’s your prerogative.”

“I tend to avoid playing ‘hard to get’ in favor of ‘hard to forget’,” Darius continued, lifting one leg up and placing the sole of his shoe on the bench so he could rest an arm on his knee while he continued to examine his fingernails disinterestedly, “But it’s becoming increasingly clear that you really aren’t the memorable type. No wonder the only thing you’re known for is your hair,” Darius added, intentionally ignoring his vow to let the hair topic go. His promises weren’t worth shit anyway, and since it didn’t seem like Piper was going to be an easy lay, she may as well find that out about him now.

"God had nothing to do with this gift." Yes, Darius was insufferable. He had an ego larger than the Eiffel Tower. He had more arrogance than the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team combined. However.. he had style and flair, even Piper had to sort of concede that. She wanted to get protection from the popular crowd while retaining her own personality...

Perhaps Darius was the one she needed to use.

She wondered how she should do this. She was sure he came across girls who would willingly do a lot for him, who would seek out to please him. She was sure he met weak minded people that did bended easily to his will. She was sure to be achieve her goal she had to be set apart- something that sounded easy already. But she had to have something to offer him in return. And she was not quite sure what that was yet. But she knew she would need to come up with something.

In the meantime, she decided she would continue with the way she was treating him. "The methods of attainment and entertainment are clearly different." She blinked, because while she needed something from him, she was not prepared to cross any of her already established boundaries. He continued on and she chuckled, glancing away.

"I was going to admit that you were good, until you forgot that I am not a first year. I am not going to do something simply because you make me sound too chicken or too much of a prude. I don't belive in 'Opposite Day' anymore."

Darius rolled his eyes heavily at Piper’s stubbornness, willing her to at least be somewhat more interesting in her parrying of his verbal barrage. This comment was basically a recycled version of her last one, and Darius was getting bored. She obviously wasn’t going to sleep with him, but that wasn’t what was really bothering Darius. It was more that this girl clearly had an inflated view of herself; if her second comment was any indication, she was of the opinion that Darius was going to keep trying to win her affections, but the older Slytherin boy was far past caring. He hadn’t come here to get laid today; it would have been a nice perk, yes, but he wasn’t going to fight tooth and nail for some scrawny blond thing. He had seen – and had – much better.

Scoffing at her second statement – accompanied by another eye roll – Darius couldn’t help but see the similarities between Piper and Athena. The girls were both Slytherin and more stubborn than they were worth… or perhaps, in Athena’s case, worth it, but just barely. They both seemed to have a penchant for fashion that was in the darker ranges, and they both carried themselves in a “devil-may-care” way, even though Darius could see right through that. Girls who acted as tough as Piper and Athena did always had quivering underbellies that were prime for attack.

At that thought, Darius was reminded of the last time he had taken advantage of that soft spot in Athena’s armor, and how much it had cost him. He had always poked fun at Athena and the rest of their gang, but apparently calling Athena out for what she was – pureblood livestock, essentially, even if she was one of the prettiest in the herd – had stepped over the line. That one comment had put him quickly on the floor, courtesy of his so-called “friends”. This is why friends were pointless. Wasn’t the common saying that friends liked you for who you really were? If people were going to go around spouting that nonsense, then Darius’ friends ought to like him for the asshole he really was.

Ever since that comment, Darius had been firmly on the outs of his gang of Slytherin cohorts. He had made brief attempts at weaseling his way back in, but hadn’t managed any success. Athena had nearly spit venom at him, and Kendall looked like he wanted to deck him, though Darius was fairly confident he could take the scrawny kid any day. Kendall didn’t know how to fight dirty, and Darius didn’t know how to fight fair. It doesn’t take a seasoned gambler to know which way the odds were going to fall in that skirmish.

But then again, maybe Darius wouldn’t need to bother with kicking the crap out of Kendall (say that three times fast). Because sitting right next to him was a moody little girl with exactly the attitude Athena appreciated in her minions – so long as they were giving that attitude to someone besides her, of course. Maybe Piper could be useful outside the bedroom, if she could be Darius’ ticket to redemption.

Having pondered this for a minute or two, Darius scooted over on the bench to give Piper more personal space, and to clear the air between them somewhat. He wasn’t going to apologize for anything he had said, and he didn’t really think her last few comments were really worthy of response. Instead, he swept his hands through the air in front of him as if to wipe the slate, and then launched into his new tactic.

“Okay, new topic,” Darius said, careful to take any tones of lechery out of his voice, “Why is it that I haven’t seen you around at school more? We’re in the same house, and you’ve got an attitude that gives you an automatic in with our housemates. So what’s your deal? Because the lone wolf thing does lend somewhat of an air of mystery, but that’s got to get old after a while."