Ice Cream or I scream? (open)

Wide blue eyes stared at the menu board, darting here and there, trying to read everything as well as take the actual words in. It boggled the mind! There were regular flavors that Jurian had hear of before and many more that he hadn't. Some wouldn't have even made an appearance in his wildest imagination! Then again, the boy had only heard of some of the things mentioned on his very first ever trip on the Hogwarts Express. There were just too many options for him to choose just one type of ice cream!

Bouncing on his toes as he tried to make his mind the closer he got to the register, he kept thinking, 'Okay, I'll try that on.' Only for him to change his decision seconds later. When he finally got up to the counter, he ended up blurting out, "I'd like a cup of white chocolate banana curry and a cone of vanilla pepper imp please!"

It would cost him what he had left is pocket money but he really had to try these two first. He'd seen and asked an older student about the peppermint candies that let you breath fire! Eagerly, he waited for his order to be scooped into a paper cup and cone respectfully. Beaming, Jurian took his sweets to an outdoor table setting aside the one in the cup to stare at the one he was the most impatient to try. "I wonder if it'll allow me to breathe fire too or if the ice cream will put it out before it starts?" he wondered aloud before shrugging and taking an experimental bite.

Lilac Rhea Capulet

"Non Papa, je n'en veux pas!"

"But darling," Artemis Capulet tried, trying to hold up his hands full of shopping bags.

"Non!" The thirteen year old declared with a petulant finality to her tone. The young blonde had been growing more and more comfortable putting her foot down these days and it was obvious in her demeanor. "Now bring the car around, I'm tired."

"Aright darling, just wait here and-" But Lilac was done waiting. Without another word, the young Slytherin had disappeared into the ice cream shop nearby, not interested in standing on the street waiting for Artemis to bring her ride around. A Clement would never wait, and was she not one by extension anyway?

Entering the ice cream parlous, the soon be third year's eyes sought out the menu, her lower lip jutting out irately at the pedestrian choices displayed. They didn't have the original glace glacée she was used to. Lilac was just about to tell the shop keeper how very unrefined their establishment was when her eyes fell on a familiar face.

"You, tardy boy!" she called out unsure if she had ever received his name other than the one called out in class. "Monsieur Taggart, get me a meelk shake please, ze ice cream in zis shop is not worth eeting."

Hearing a familiar voice as well as termonology to describe him had Jurian whip his head around even as he swallowed the ice cream in his mouth reflexively so he could talk. Instead of actually answering right way, his eyes watered as his throat was treated to a peculiar contrasting sensation of cold then hot. He belched out a tiny plume of fire and gave a sheepish expression as he quickly croaked an apology. "Sorry. Hi, Lilac."

Even before he'd heard his surname, he knew who it was because calling him 'Tardy Boy' had been how she'd greeted him upon their first meeting; sort of. She'd made the statement that he was late to everything which wasn't technically true. His brain caught up to what she had said even as his exuberance nearly had him blurting out to ask if she had seen the smoke. That had meant that it was possibly that he'd be able to breathe fire just like the candies didn't it? Blinking, he stared at the girl as his excitement at his discovery was checked at her request.

"I actually like this one. It let me breathe fire! Sort of." He gave a smile and shrugged. He didn't like that he would be disappointing his friend, but honestly if she had come minutes earlier he would have been able to get her what she wanted. "I bought it was the last of my money. Maybe I can get you a milkshake another time? Or you can try these and have the one you like better?"

Jurian had nodded when the girl said the word money. It was what made the world go round according to his father or any grown up really. Raising a sceptical eyebrow, or at least trying, when Lilac told him he didn't need money. Was she going to attempt a dine and dash? Something told him that Lilac wasn't a running type of person. Or a person who did anything that would get her sweaty or ruin her clothes.

Still, the boy turned to watch as she went to the counter, order, then showed the man that sold the ice cream something shiny. Edging towards the end of his seat, the boy really wanted to find out what she showed the man.

"A Clement never pays for anything monsieur. Though you wouldn't know that."

Scrunching up his face in confusion, because he knew that wasn't what she was called in class. His mouth blurted that out as well as his next thought. "But you're not a Clement?"

Eyes widening he had continued, "Are you a secret love child of a Clement?" It never occured to him that her mother could have been a Clement before changing her surname as she got married. The idea that she was a secret love child appealed to him more with mystery of it.

He had completely forgot her rude commemt about the milkshake, too wrapped up in the excitement of the 'mystery'.

"How come you're not called Clement at school then? Wouldn't the Sorting Hat have known your real surname?"

"But you're not a Clement?"

At his words, the snooty expression on Lilac's face vanished, only to be replaced with a hue so pale, it looked like she might pass out. The blonde would have said something, defended her rightful title, but her lips wouldn't move. Fortunately, Jurian was too preoccupied with his own theories to notice, giving her time to compose herself.

"Are you a secret love child of a Clement?"

Slowly, almost painfully, Lilac turned to the Ravenclaw, schooling her features into a tight smile. The Lady Clement smiled no matter how rude she found someone and Lilac would be her some day so it was good practice. "And if I was, why would I tell you?" The boy could believe whatever he liked, as long as she knew she was a Clement deep down.

"Besides, not all Clements wear a name tag. Or have you not heard of a Harrington who also claims to be one of us?" Her tone was slowly returning to it's haughty pitch as color bled back into her pale features. Throwing Mimosa into fire like that helped. She was no Clement and it was time someone knew that.

"And wheech great family do you come from, Monsieur Taggart?" she asked in return, prepared to show him how it was not his place to question her. "What heestory rich tapestries 'ang in your palace?"

Many times in his life more so now that he was entering his teenage years had Jurian been told he had no tact. It wasn't as if the boy set out to do it on purpose since the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt someone's feelings. However, sometimes things that were sensitive or sore subjects weren't obvious or worn on ones sleeve so wasn't he allowed some leeway there? Apparently not as it seemed that Jurian had poked such a place in Lilac due to her replies back to him. Immediately guilt ate at him which he didn't like in the slightest.

Shoulders curling forward slightly as his head ducked down he took the chastisement even if he didn't like it and didn't think he deserved it completely since Lilac was a little at fault too. Shrugging when the girl had questioned him, his hands turned the ice cream cone in his hands, his eyes staring at the black bits of candy in the white frozen treat. He thought they were friends? Didn't they talk about certain things and share stuff? Then she mentioned someone else that he sort of remembered from when the professor was talking about Animagi. Hadn't that Slytherin boy he'd run into tell him not to go to that girl?

At the last bit though, Jurian stared at the girl, his blue eyes showing his confusion and hurt before he looked back to his ice cream that he'd thought would be fun to try. Scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor, he shrugged again. "I'm not from any important family and I'm okay with that. Jasper, my brother, might become a football star, he might not. It wouldn't matter to any of us."

That was why Jasper and his parents were absent from his little excursion today. He had a football match that their parents went to. They trusted Jurian to be able to look after himself while he was in the alley and they would meet him halfway when both parties were done with their plans.

"Sorry, if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to. I just thought," here he gave a shrug before glancing at her with an apologetic smile. "I thought we were friends."

"I'm not from any important family and I'm okay with that. Jasper, my brother, might become a football star, he might not. It wouldn't matter to any of us."

Lilac of course knew this. And normally she would have flashed a jubilant grin at that. But the Ravenclaw sounded... not right. Not like his usual self anyway. Was he sad that he didn't come from a greatly family like hers? If he was, why did he say he was okay with it? Was he pretending?

"I thought we were friends."

He wasn't upset at having a mediocre family. He was upset because... she had spoken in such a manner to him. Lilac knew that feeling, as much as she tried to suppress it. It was how she felt when someone reminded her that she was a daughter of the chauffeur and not the palace. Even if it was a lie, it was still not good to hear.

He was also the person person at Hogwarts to think of her as a friend. Lilac didn't have any of those yet...

"I... haf never seen a football match," she confessed because Lilac Rhea did not apologize. Her tone was marginally softer though. "What ees eet like?" If he had a brother who played the sport, Jurian would know at least a little of it.

"I don't haf anee seeblings," she added, contemplating her nearly untouched milkshake before sliding it towards him. His mouth would burn from the little fire peppers soon enough, and he was a boy who hand't thought to get something soothing for the aftertaste. "Or anee parents, I only haf ze palace."

Looking up at her confession, Jurian's eyes brightened and he found his lips curving up into a smile as he straightened up. "It's exciting. Well," he paused and thought, "I suppose it'd be a bit boring to someone who's seen quidditch. There's only one ball and one goal on each side. And there's no flying."

Having to explain to others of his house that didn't know about football had been an experience. Of course he had been utterly confused and lost when they had tried to explain quidditch to him until he'd seen it first hand. He supposed that if you tried to explain about football to someone it did sound rather boring as you were just kicking a ball back and forth hoping to get it in the net. Perking up though he stated, "It's sort of a vibe thing? You get energy from the crowd too. Like at the quidditch matches. You get hyped because everyone else is too."

Maybe he wasn't explaining that well...

Eyes widening he immediately felt bad. It must have been really lonely for her. He had no idea what she meant about the palace and decided that maybe he should look into that since Lilac was his friend? "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I've always had Jasper. We're twins. It's fun to confuse the teachers since we're identical."

When Lilac pushed her shaker towards him he did the same with his untouched white chocolate banana curry. After a second he also offered his cone with a mischievous smile. "It let's you breathe fire."