How to Spend One's Money (Humphrey)

Guest

Lux strolled through Diagon Alley donned in her black top and black studded skirt skirt. She'd completed the outfit with her usual knee high combat boots, skull chain belt and monkey fur messenger bag. She'd managed to weasel some money out of her foster parents and there was only one thing on her mind to buy. A broomstick. If there was one thing Lux loved better than DADA, it was flying and she wanted a broomstick for herself.

She walked through the doors of the shop, pausing at the entrance to scan the place with a critical eye. She wanted a broom that would let her go fast and only the best would do. She walked through the aisles slowly, looking at every model available and weighing the pros and cons of each. And it needed to be within her budget. It had taken tremendous effort on her part to get the money out of The Couple - having to behave within the rules and not cause trouble - and she wasn't about to spend that hard earned money on something that would not satisfy her. No, the broom had to give her her money's worth.

[[OOC: Sorry it's so short!!]]

Guest

Finally, Humphrey had finished with all of his shopping, and begged to go into one of the broom stores. Casey pointed out to their mum that she hadn't had ice cream and Humphrey had, which made Jane look at the two of them suspiciously before caving. She told him to go to Broomstix, and not to wander off to other stores. After promising that he would be good and stay where she knew to find him, he walked over and began perusing the shop.

It wasn't that Humphrey was big into Quidditch like most boys and some of the girls seemed to be. Even though he knew they had an excellent school nurse, he was always worried somebody would suffer permanent damage from a bludger or fall from a broom. For him, it was the experience of flying through the air itself that was so enjoyable. Not only that, it let you look at the world from a different vantage point and allowed you to see it from a different perspective. His father had a broom, and would occasionally let him use it when he was home to supervise. So, as he browsed he looked for one that was stable and would last a long time instead of a broom that was simply fast.

When he rounded the end of one aisle and was about to start down another, he nearly ran smack into an older girl he thought he may have seen once or twice in the halls. In an attempt to sidestep her, he tripped over his feet and landed hard on his bum, wincing before popping back up. "Sorry, didn't mean to get in your way." he apologized, smiling a little awkwardly at the girl. "What kind of broom are you looking for?" he asked her after another moment.

Guest

Lux had gotten permission to test the broom she'd picked out. She mounted and did a few careful laps of the shop, making sure not to crash into the other brooms on display. The limited space did not allow for a good test run but at least she managed to get a feel of the broom. She'd tested the Moontrimmer, Tinderblast, a few of the Cleansweep series, the Starsweeper XXI and the Firebolt. These were a few in her budget. She was torn between the height the Moontrimmer could achieve and the speed the Firebolt was famous for.

It wasn't like she was a Quidditch player and needed a broom for herself but she loved flying. Up in the air, going as fast and as high as possible, she felt free and burdenless. She could look at the world from afar and all her problems and stress would be reduced to the size of a thumbnail. High above the earth, she could look at life and everything it entailed with a different perspective than when she was on the earth. It was relaxing to float meters above the air and contemplate everything and nothing at all.

She was weighing her options when out of nowhere, a boy fell at her feet. She didn't jump in surprise outwardly - because that was cowardly - but she did raise her eyebrows and frown in disdain at the boy. What was it with boys falling at her feet. First Finley and now this...ragamuffin. She knew she was attractive and all but she preferred for the male species to show their appreciation another way besides literally falling at her feet.

Lux crossed her arms and tapped her foot as the boy got up on her feet. Of course it had to be a Puff! They were nothing but annoying rats. She raised an eyebrow at his apology. "Hmm. Yes. Next time, use your eyes or I'll pluck them out, burn them and shove them down your throat," she smiled sweetly. At his question she chuckled. "The kind that would beat the fats out of your rear end." She picked up the broom nearest to her. "Would you like a demonstration?"

Guest

When Humphrey got to his feet and looked at the girl's expression and crossed arms he knew he was about to get told off. Hufflepuff he may be, but that didn't mean he was a coward. Looking the girl straight in the eyes he waited for her to finish what she had to say, listening carefully to what she would do to him if he didn't use his eyes as she put it. How she expected him to know there would be somebody flying straight at him as soon as he turned the corner he didn't know, but he wisely chose not to argue the point.

After thinking about how to respond to the violent images that appeared in his brain, he merely gave a soft laugh. "Surely you could be more creative than that with your punishment. Perhaps tie me up, flay off strips of skin and cook them before forcing me to eat them. Or, you could always go more outside the box and use creative hex combinations. Don't limit your threats to ones most people have heard or read in books." Humphrey advised, before giving her a friendly smile as if she had just paid him a compliment instead of threatened him.

The arrogant comment was a little much for him, but he stood aside and nodded. "Alright, oh great flying girl, show me what you got." Humphrey said, a fake tone of wonder in his voice. He may not be a bully, but he knew how to at least enjoy himself when talking with somebody who thought they were better than others. Dropping the fanboy attitude though, he looked at her seriously for a moment. "Really would like to see what you can do in a shop, though. You'd have to be good to fly in confined quarters like this." he conceded, giving her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Guest

Lux raised one eyebrow at his laugh. Her smirk widened when he foolishly decided to talk back. It seemed like this Puff had some backbone in him. It was admirable but utterly foolish for him to try and match her. He was what, eleven? twelve? She had been at this way longer than him and had more experience. For Merlin's sake, she grew up in an environment where it was kill-or-be-killed and she survived that. This was nothing but a mere irritating fly.

She nodded seriously. "Sure, I could do that too and better yet, I won't get in trouble for actually doing it because it was you who suggested it in the first place," she answered. "And I would not call them 'threats' because unlike others, I actually mean what I say." She matched his smile with a bright and warm one of her own though her tone of voice was quite the opposite.

At his response, she laughed heartily. What he said proved that he had no brains, or if he did have brains, he wasn't using them. "Oh honey! Do you not understand the art of conversation? My question was linked to the sentence before it," she chuckled and gave him a condescending look. "If you still don't get it, let me spell it out for you. I was asking if you would like a demonstration of the kind of broom I'm looking for: the kind that would beat the fats out of your rear end."

She chuckled again. "And there is absolutely no doubt about my flying skills. How did you think I obtained student of the year if I did not succeed in every class? But if you are really that stupid to ask for a demonstration of my flying skills, I'll give it to you."

She picked up the Moontrimmer and backed all the way before mounting. She took a tight grip on the handle and estimated the distance she had. It would be useless to try and zoom around the room; she would only knock things down in the process. No, she had something else in mind. By now, she'd mastered the loop. She accelerated down the straight aisle and just as it seemed like she was going to crash into the other end of the shop, she pulled into the loop, going upside down and making a perfect circle until she was right side up again.

"Think you can match that?" she asked as she got off the broom. To her knowledge, not very many students at Hogwarts could do that, probably just the older years and not all of them either. "If you really want to see good flying though, I cordially invite you to the Quidditch pitch after classes tomorrow."

Guest

Not surprisingly, the girl gave him a trademark Slytherin smirk. Humphrey wondered if the Head of Slytherin gave lessons in that, or if they just picked up from each other. It was a pretty silly image, the idea of a common room full of first years trying to practicing a smirk or menacing smile that seemed more a threat than anything else. Somehow, though, part of him could see it actually happening. Although, that could merely be his imagination running away with him like it always did. Shaking his head and chuckling a little more, he refocused on the conversation at hand.

Listening carefully as Humphrey watched her eyes, he knew she wasn't simply teasing or intimidating like other students might be. Her remark was followed by the menacing smile he'd thought of earlier, the one that reminded him more of an animal baring its teeth than a young girl being friendly. "That much I can see for myself. Do you always talk to young boys like this, or am I the lucky exception?" he asked, not going to let her see him scared. If anything happened, Humphrey knew he was quick on his feet and could probably duck behind the aisle or something before he got hurt. At least, he hoped he would be able to. All that running he loved to do had to be good for something, right?

Humphrey merely chuckled when she explained her remark to him, he had gotten it the first time. Before he spoke he simply raised his own eyebrow at her as it to ask what in the world she was doing. "I understood perfectly well, actually. There's just not much fat left back there because I love running, and over the summer I have even more time to do so than when I'm at school. Why would you say it that way to begin with, are you saying you'd like to spank me?" he asked, giving her a small smirk of his own. Curious to see what her response will be to that.

The way she talked about herself like she was the best made him frown a little, but he simply nodded. Humphrey had of course heard that she was the student of the year. "It's not stupid, you don't even know why I'm asking." he pointed out. More than anything, Humphrey wanted to know what could actually be done in a confined space like this. That she had been allowed to use a broom in a store at all meant she had good enough control, but he wanted to see the demonstration and learn from it.

While the girl demonstrated her skills Humphrey watched carefully, impressed by the level of fine control she had over a broom she'd only just learned to use. Not many people were that good on brooms they owned themselves, and he felt some respect for the girl he hadn't expected to feel appear in his thoughts. The girl executed it textbook perfect and hadn't knocked a single thing out of place while doing that. He gave her a single clap to let her know he was impressed.

Thinking about it for a moment, he shook his head. "Maybe with a few more years of practice, but not yet. Haven't practiced many stunts or tricks to be honest, I just love the feel of flying." Humphrey admitted. At the mention of the Quidditch Pitch he smiled and nodded. "That sounds like fun. What's your name? I'm Humphrey." he said, holding out his hand to her.

Guest

At his question, Lux chuckled darkly. "You wouldn't want to know how I treat young boys," she replied with a smile. "It would give you nightmares for the rest of you life and you wouldn't be able to go to sleep. Or if you manage to fall asleep, you would wake up screaming from the images that haunt your dreams. Maybe even wet your pants in terror and cry for you mommy." All this was true. One of the orphanages she was sent to back in Sitka, Alaska was a mixture of boys and girls. And what fun she'd had then! Scaring the daylights out of the young boys there was one of her favourite past-times.

"Are you sure about that? Because if you did understand me perfectly, you would have offered your backside for me to beat," she said. "And as to your question, I do enjoy seeing people get hurt. It's what life is all about. But just so you know, I usually retaliate, not in a physical way, but in a way that will make someone sad for a very very long time."

She scoffed at his comment. "I don't need to know the reason why you're asking to call it stupid. Everything to do with you is stupid. You're stupid, everything you say is stupid, everything you do is stupid." She shrugged nonchalantly. "You're completely worthless. Did nobody tell you this?" This rodent was becoming more and more annoying, a whining brat not worth her time. But she took every opportunity she got to play with a younger year.

When all she got was a single clap, Lux raised an eyebrow at the boy. "If you wanna clap, clap properly," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Or are you too retarded to know how to clap?" She hadn't been seeking approval or fame or praise or recognition. She didn't care if the parasite of a boy was impressed with her skills or not but he had challenged her to show her skills and Lux had never been one to back down from a challenge.

When the boy introduced himself and held out his hand, Lux looked down at it in disgust. Did he expect her to follow the social norms of hand shaking? Oh, there was nothing wrong with that particular gesture but Lux wasn't one to follow social rules, norms and etiquette. So she merely gave his hand a glance and replied, "My name is of no concern to you, Elephant." She found amusement in his name; it reminded her of what a circus might name an elephant. What parents he had to have to receive a name like that!

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