"Study" Group

Jack raised an eyebrow, thinking it was funny how the two of them were always butting heads, and yet they both had the same cocky, self-assured attitude. "Really?" she said, as though she was not at all fazed or intimidated, by his words, which she was not. Of mere threats made her quail, she would have broken down a long time ago. No, she had too many threats against her to be scared now.

"You may call it a formality, but I call it a grey area, and since I am such a spectacular student and thoughtful citizen," at this point she smirked, "the professors would have to take pity on me. Well, maybe not me, but the dear foreigns. You would not want to compromise our position with the foreigns, right?" She gave him another look of innocence.

He glared at the Butterbeer as though it were poisoned. She scoffed. "Ah, come on, James. It's not like I did anything to it! Geez!" She took a drink from her own mug. "See, I'm fine. And they came from the same batch, and I'm not dead, right? Or in pain?" She offered him a genuine smile, holding it out at at arm's length. "While you worry about getting names, you can at least have a little fun. Noun. The act of enjoying life." She laughed good-naturedly.

"In case you haven't noticed, Jack, this is how I have fun." James smirked ever so slightly as he turned to Jack and gave her a look that said little more than "Drink it yourself." It was an almost pitying look, but more appraising than anything else. She was actually trying to get him to party along with her group. James frankly did not care much for parties and the like. They were a social minefield. Two steps forward could either land you in disaster or fortune. James hated gambling more than anything in the world. Even ignorance could be forgiven. Gambling only occurred when foresight failed, or drink prevailed.

"You know what, Jack? How about you introduce me to a few of your 'opponents.'" James asked, deciding to at least humor her. James maintained his stoic, off-hand nature. Distant, perhaps. Yes, that word seemed fitting enough. His eyes scanned the students, seeking out familiar tufts of hair (unreliable, but always a good starting point), off-hand magical incantations (The paper deers were a bit TOO familiar), and the Patronus-esque animals circling around the room all indicate that the students were in constant communication. Perhaps they would ignore him once Jack grew bored of dragging him around.

Jack grinned at him and sent the mug of Butterbeer back, sipping her own. He said that this was the only way he knew how to have fun and in a light voice, she said, "Oh, so you have fun by lurking in parties you don't want to be at and threatening to ruin all of the fun for the rest of us." Nevertheless, she grinned. Stated that way, it sounded a lot like how she chose to have fun. Though there were usually more explosions.

He asked to be introduced and she grinned again. Then, in a very un-Jack-like sort of move, she linked arms with him and dragged him over to the group she had just left. "Hey, you guys. This is my chum-" she smirked up at James "-James Wake. James, this is Lana and Peter. They're from Beaubatons." She gestured to them. "And I believe you know Brienne. And possibly... Simon, right?" She indicated the other Ravenclaws.

"Oh! Hello!" Lana smiled as she gave James a good look-over. He definitely seemed like the joy-kill type. His eyes looked dead and humorless, though they did sparkle with a mysteriously brutal intent. He certainly didn't look like good "chum" material. Perhaps he was just a know-it-all, or maybe he really let loose when he was drunk. It would have been an... interesting experiment, but he certainly didn't seem to be in the best of moods. Lana smiled again, though she was kind of intimidated by James' oppressively negative attitude.

Lana pulled Jack aside. "Are you sure he's alright? He looks like he's ready to kill someone," she muttered in her friend's ear, wondering what he was actually capable of. He looked eerily familiar too... "You don't think he's here to get any of us in trouble, do you?"

Lana had greeted James nicely enough, but she seemed to be eying him with a definite discomfort and mistrust in her eyes that indicated it was not as entertaining to her to risk the party to see James loosen as it was to Jack. She obviusly was a little weirded out by James, which made Jack want to get the boy to open up to her even more.

Lana pulled Jack aside and confirmed Jack's suspicions about her opinions on the boy, saying he looked ready to kill somebody. Jack chuckled, "That'd be me. He's not a fan of me." She smirked and Lana asked if he would try to get them in trouble. "Oh, almost definitely. whether I'd allow for him to succeed is up in the air though. Part of the fun, though, don't you think?" She began to walk away before she stopped and said, "Don't worry too much Lana. I got this covered." She approached James again and said, "Hello again, party animal."

"I would prefer not be called an animal. Especially not by you," James muttered to Jack, though the words still came out as piercing and clear as they would have had he simply said what was on his mind. The likelihood that Jack had heard was considerably lessened with him whispering, and the music was loud enough to mask over the stray words. He tried his best to give a warm, welcoming smile to the Beauxbatons girl, but he doubted it would make a good impression. Her first, however, would probably stick with her for a while. James' eye wandered over to the others. In his head, he started checking down a list. He would remove a point for each of the Hogwarts students he recognized. There were students from all houses, so taking an equal amount of points off would suffice.

Brienne Ravenquist (-1 Ravenclaw)
Simon McLaggen (-1 Ravenclaw)
James noted that Ravenclaw would take a severe beating if he accurately distributed the negative points. His eyes scanned the room, unfocused and frankly uninterested in the girl's conversation. They were probably discussing something amongst themselves. Maybe the girl knew that his job was to ruin everybody else's fun. He would not ruin this party. He would merely need to give her a warning, and move along.

James muttered something, almost definitely a complaint directed right at her for whatever she said that was not good enough. Jack was perfectly fine with this. Being distracted by someone who hated her guts always kept her spirits high, and kept her mind off of less pleasant things that she did not need to focus on...

So she decided that it was about time that she started to have some fun, maybe pull James' leg just a little bit. She turned towards Lana, as though to inform her of something. "James, here, is one of the most hardcore kids here. Always late to class, mouths off to the teachers, always getting in trouble for this or that." The reached up to tussle his hair. "Yessiree, he is notorious here for messing around. He even crashed this party. Wild, right? Can't stop this guy!" She punched his arm playfully.

"Woah. Sounds totally crazy." Lana could pretty much tell that Jack was just screwing around, but something seemed pretty fun about it. It was not as if the boy would actually start shouting and blowing stuff up. He actually seemed like he was really chill. But he also looked like a square. So with little much else to do, she decided to play along.
[color=cyan]"So, let me get this straight- you're effectively the most monstrous student here? Know any good places to get Blood Naughets? I've so much about the Wheezes, and I REALLY want to try it out." Lana asked innocently. She gave him a smile, giving a slight wink to Jack as she tried to come up with more ways to mess with this student. She did not know what Jack's problem with him was, but it looked like it was a lot of time.

Jack had to keep herself from answering when Lana asked where she could find some Nosebleed Nougats, the word 'Wheezes' catching her attention faster than if someone had entered the room and shouted 'FIRE!' at the top of their lungs. As the co-owner and operator of Weasleys Wizards' Wheezes, Jack was always stocked wit such items; she had a variety pack of Skiving Snackboxes in her bag now.

Lana was obviously curious about why Jack was messing with James. Jack did not like thinking about it as messing with him; she was not acting for the sole purpose of pissing him off, though it usually was a by product. Jack was just the sort of person to see someone opposite of her, and make attempts to bridge the gap, as though to prove them wrong for disliking her. She did not need their approval. But she needed to prove them wrong. She swung an arm around his shoulder and nodded. "Yep. This kid...He's crazy."

Ooooohhhh... I get it. She's screwing with us.
You know, I'm actually quite interested in all this. Where's the-
Cheesecake!

James inhaled deeply. He exhaled loudly. Of course- Jack would most certainly use the situation to her advantage. He did not hate her for it. In fact, he probably would have been that terrible terrible student had he been raised in a different home. But he was not. He was raised in a place where he had to destroy everything innocent about his very existence, forever haunted with the thoughts of his father's dying gift, and how easily it had been chopped off him. James closed his eyes, searching his mind, ignoring the snickering voices. His patience was certainly being tested by all of this. He opened his eyes, cocked a slight confident, if slight, smile.
"Well, I am not the correct person to be asked concerning Nosebleed Nougats, as we call them. I do not generally rely upon concoctions which anyone could obtain. To be frank, I consider it quite cheap. Jack, on the other hand, would know quite a bit about it."

For added effect, James nudged Jack "lightly" with his Alchemic Arm. It was not very functional in Society, but this usage seemed more appropriate than anything he had used it for in a long time. To Jack, it probably felt like a metal baseball bat lightly rapping against her ribs.