[OPEN] The Comfort of Snakes

This was the domain of the rich and famous. The bed of The Who’s who of Hogwarts. The den of snakes.

At least that was the sense. Cosmo wouldn’t put his ego anywhere near some of the others that frequented the Slytherin common room, but most seemed to enter with a sense of “Better Than” and he wasn’t going to argue. He couldn’t speak for the other common rooms, but this one was a breeding ground for ideals, philosophies, and the free thinkers who bore them. Slytherins were not a silly folk. They had plans, big plans, and they were happy to tell you them.

His mate George had to excuse himself from their latest discussion, which was fine considering it was so he could continue what George had described as a heavenly snog, interrupted by Peeves. But Penelope had just finished her History of Magic study session and called his name. Cosmo didn’t even bother saying good bye. It wasn’t like his friend would hear him.  

He leaned back, surveying the plush interior of the common room with a smile.

There was the paradise they all deserved.

Godric walked into the green and silver clad room. It was warm and cozy despite the cold atmosphere of so many... shall we say influential family heirs. He was right at home there to be honest. He was raised as most of them were, wealth, power, and a rebellious side a mile long. Granted he would have fit in with the Ravenclaw house just as easily. But he enjoyed the comforts of being a Slytherin. It suited him almost as much as the red military uniforms of Durmstrang.

He hadn't had much of a chance to interact with most of his Housemates, but he had secretly gotten dossiers on most of them. Some as simple as their family history, others as detailed as how long they wet the bed during childhood. He wasn't about to let that particular cat out of the bag however.

Cosmo was on who he had a good bit of detail on. His father and mother's very public personas made sure of that. Godric even thought he might remember the boy from a few of the cross Ministry functions he had attended with his uncle. He wasn't a hundred percent on that though. Those had been some interesting times for him, especially the ones Christy had wanted to ditch out on.

He simply smiled at the other boy as he sat down on one of the lavish couches near the fire place. He hadn't been around the commons enough to make many friends, even though he was here for very specific reasons. Networking being one of them, however, he decided to try his hand.

"Cosmo isn't it?" He asked, allowing a small smile to cross his lips. "Godric Malfoy. I don't believe we've the pleasure of meeting formally." He was using his wording as a way to suss out wither or not they had met briefly at a function. He couldn't keep the thousands of age mates he had been forced to endure in his memory. Then there wouldn't be any room left for his studies and... other interests.

Godric Malfoy.

That name had somehow escaped the scrutiny it probably should have garnered, considering how loud and proud the family had been during the last wizarding war, but they were a slippery bunch, and the victors of that particular era had a weakness for forgiveness. Potter saw the Malfoys every step of the way and still forgave them. Cosmo doubted it would have gone that way if the tables had been turned.

Godric did not act like the son of a pardoned family. He walked and talked like the world still owed him something, like sorry wasn’t in his vocabulary. Cosmo liked it. Personally, he preferred keeping his views close to his chest, remaining as everyone’s friend so he could cast the widest net of influence. He liked that Godric had a bit of that classic brashness. That loud and proud.

And he now brought that to Hogwarts.

“Godric,” he said, by means of confirming his name was correct. “No, I don’t think we have. I’ve seen you, though, various Ministry functions and social mixers. Mother usually reserves introductions to young ladies with sizable dowries.” He grinned. “So, Durmstrang get tired of you, or was it the other way ‘round?”

Godric laughed at the mention of females with large dowries. How archaic. Even a child of the Germen Ministry, with it's militaristic focus, wasn't the transparent in their forced courting. "Fair enough on that. My Uncle made sure I was in the limelight most of the time. Granted back then I was still going by my mother's maiden name." He left it at that for the moment. Not wise to show your full hand to soon, and this guy seemed fun. Posh and arrogant like most of this house, yet there seemed a wild side behind those eyes of his. Depths that Godric hadn't yet delved into.

When the boy asked about Durmstrang getting tired of him he laughed, a small noise more musical then the brash bawling laughter of most of the students. "Neither, actually. I wanted to spend at least the last year with my cousin. She and I grew up together, but she changed to Hogwarts last year. I had a few ongoing, shall we say, obligations, at Durmstrang so I had to wait till this year to follow."

"As for this place, what in the seven reaches of hell do you guys do for fun outside of Quiddich and classes?" He hadn't found a single thing to do beyond his very narrow focus. Overloading himself with classes, normally doubled, Quiddich, TAing for DADA, and his after hours self imposed potions and spell crafting sessions.

Godric looked around the room, assessing the other students milling about. No one worthy of note to be honest, at least not at this point in time. Hopefully Cosmo would be the kind of fun distraction he needed in order not to get into full on confrontations with other students. Or the boy might just help him get into trouble. Either worked for the Malfoy.

If there was something Cosmo knew, it was the limelight. Heathcote had loved being a Weird Sister, but more than that he loved being loved. Their fan base had remained devoted through even the worst scandals and Heathcote had been happy to appeal to them at every turn. Of course his children fed into that. Everything of his was for sell in exchange for the love of the crowd, and that included Cosmo and Cosi. Magazine covers, news headlines - the whole gamut of media coverage. And Cosmo had loved it.

"Look at you and your sense of familial duty," Cosmo quipped, a comfortable smirk still affixed to his face. He supposed he could understand that. He might have done the same for Cosi, though he couldn't imagine a world where he needed to make that kind of sacrifice for anything. Life just worked out for the Barbary clan.

"Well," he drawled, lifting an eyebrow. "I actually just put sign ups for a debate club. I've been thinking about it for awhile. Think it could be a good way to entertain those of who enjoy more intellectual pursuits. If you want, you can drop by a few meetings."

He couldn't say he was close to the Yaxley boys, especially not to the older of the twins, even though they were in the same house. Kaiden tended to stick around other purebloods solely to give the appearance that all of that mattered to him, mostly for his parents. He and Cronis just didn't have much in common, not to mention the younger boy got annoying when all he could talk about was Anabelle Mulciber.

Don't get him wrong, the girl was pretty, but she wasn't all that. Certainly not enough to require all of the attention of the other Slytherin. Kaiden regretted having told Cronis that he would walk down to the dungeon with him, since they'd both just gotten out of class and Kaiden had told him on an occasion before that he would help him with his charms work.

Most of the walk consisted of Cronis either looking at the ground(or for Anabelle), or of him speaking about the Gryffindor girl like she was some kind of goddess to him.

"Listen, mate. I get it, you like her and it's not my place to judge your preferences or anything. But I really don't care. If you like her, go tell her or shut it." He'd finally gotten fed up with the babbling of the boy and, admittedly, lashed out. "... Sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

The two were now in front of the entrance to the dungeon and Kaiden stopped Cronis for a moment. "I really don't get your infatuation with her, though. I'd think you'd go after someone else, someone more.. sociable, y'know?" They entered after a moment of talking, Cronis immediately scowling after seeing who was there. Kaiden looked between the other three Slytherin, feeling like he'd missed something.

"Malfoy." Cronis nodded at him, not bothering to greet Cosmo.

Odd.

"Afternoon, gents." Kaiden greeted simply.