Unfortunate Truths

Survival? SURVIVAL? Padril's eye twitched at the absurdity. If she was legitimately worried about surviving, she could have simply asked him for help. Which Vivianna would have known perfectly well. So she was either egotistical and mad enough to actually believe she needed to blackmail Hufflepuffs in order to live, or she was simply lying. Padril would bet on the latter, she was a Slytherin to the core, It infuriated him even further that she was trying to manipulate him, even now.

"Help? Your help?" Padril spat, voice raising. "I don't want your help, you abortion." He gripped his wand, his tiny frame glowering at her, shaking. He tried to steady his breathing. That language was so beyond him, it was unthinkable. He didn't care so much for Viviana's feelings at the moment, but the words had sent a shockwave through him. He had allowed the Slytherin to turn him into somebody he didn't like. He had to fix that, and he could do that by explaining.

"You threaten to blackmail me with my sexuality, with the gender of the people I love, in an attempt to manipulate me. To make me work for you, like you're somehow better than me" he explained, fury still bubbling underneath his tone. "Then you offer to help me, like you know my sexuality better than I do. That was potentially the most offensive thing I've ever heard in my life, and I've heard a few things. But you're not only an egotistical, emotionally-handicapped sack of pre-pubescent excuses with a cat fetish, you've also badly miscalculated." This was not going the way he planned at all, oh god. He had wanted to play the long game, out-Slytherin the Slytherin. But he was just not capable of that sort of deception.

He took another step towards Vivianna, until they were less than an arms length apart. "See," he said in a low voice. "I would rather out myself to the entire school than let you get what you want. I just hate you that much." This was a side of Padril not many people got to see often, including himself. To be fair, he was rarely insulted this much.

Vivianna looked the male right in the eyes. Well then, she'd played it cool. She'd tried to be calm. She'd even tried to defuse the situation. What did the idiot do? Get even madder. If that was how he wanted to play it, she would have no problem raising his bet.

"Some of what you just said is true enough, I'll give you that. But some of it couldn't be more wrong. You look at me, and you see a young girl, a Slytherin. Well guess what, I'm involved in things that would blow your mind. I've never been fond of blackmail. It's dirty, it's low, it makes me feel like one of them," Vivianna was forced to look away from the Hufflepuff for a moment. Bloody hell, too honest, far too honest, what was she doing? Burying her hands in the under layer of her hair, the teenager tugged violently on a blue-dyed strand. After a deep breath, the girl turned back to Padril.

"I don't know much about your childhood, but I can guess. Two loving muggle parents. I bet they were nice, kind, caring, you had it made. I've always wondered what it would be like to have parents like that, to be lucky like that," warning bells were going off in Vivianna's head again, but the bitterness of the words spilling off her tongue took precedence.

"Don't worry, a lot of people hate me, don't think that it makes you special or anything. You know, I really hadn't wanted for it to come to this. But guess what, I'm not the only one who bloody miscalculated. Did you honestly think that I would approach you if I didn't have a backup plan? Tell me Padril, what does the name Damian Kerr mean to you?" the redhead said spitefully.

Padril froze. The girl, she seemed like she might actually be in a lot of trouble. In something way over her head. If she actually was though, why the heck had she come to him for help, and in such a low way? He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it arrived. Vivianna was just manipulating him. If she watched him closely enough to know he was gay, she would know he had a soft heart. Her being a well-intentioned school kid in a deadly plot wasn't logically consistent, and Occam's Razor insisted she was just a terrible person. Yet...she was revealing a lot about her life, if it wasn't all lies. Padril let his cold loathing release ice into his veins. He had to be firm now.

At Damian's name, a resigned sigh escaped him. Vivianna was many things, but she wasn't dumb. She knew Padril would be willing to sacrifice his own social standing, but not somebody else's. "You don't have any evidence," he said simply. "It'd be your word against mine. And I think I know who the school would trust more." He needed the Slytherin to show her hand right now. If she didn't have any evidence, well. Padril glanced down at his wand as he considered the most extreme of possibilities. He could just Obliviate Vivianna right there and now, thereby protecting him and Dylan. It would also be immensely satisfying. As soon as he entertained the thought, he became disgusted with himself. To risk somebody's mental health with an obtuse Memory Charm in what was essentially just a high school social conflict was huge overkill. Maybe he just needed a little bit of perspective.

If he swallowed his pride and found out what Vivianna wanted, the conversation would be smoother. If he considered it critically, in the grand scheme of things, a pre-mature outing at Hogwarts wouldn't be all that harmful to him, other than embarrassing. So why couldn't he just hear out Vivianna, and then make a decision based solely on her need as a fellow human being? He searched himself, then found his answer. Padril didn't like feeling powerless, especially before somebody with unjustly earned power. Ultimately, that feeling didn't matter so much. Humility was good for the soul. She was still a bad person, but there could be a way for Padril to mitigate the damage she could cause. The thought still made his stomach churn. It felt too much like he was justifying cowardinance.

He'd calmed down, why the hell had he calmed down? That made no sense, just as she was getting fired up, the Hufflepuff backed down. If it was anyone else, the girl would suspect that they were playing with her. Looking into Padril's eyes, she found all the expected emotions, and nothing that would explain the change in pace. Just as the Slytherin was about to look away, she spotted it, just a glimpse, but it was there. Was it, could it be, pity? The urge to help?

No, that was not okay. Especially not now. Vivianna was the one who helped others, only those she cared about, mind. The witch didn't allow others to care for her. Trades or exchanges of favors was one thing, but help from a Hufflepuff was completely off limits, especially considering what she was involved with. Out of the two different activities that could get her in trouble, one was illegal, and the other was very illegal. In the end, both could get her thrown in with the dementors.

"I don't have proof, but if I had to I could make some. Besides, while you may hate me, I certainly hold some pretty decent connections in this school. While some may not believe me over you, they certainly wouldn't believe you over Henrietta Finch, for example," the student said slowly, smirk on her face.

Vivianna had never felt so much like dirt. As she spoke, everything her father had ever told her was running through her brain, her mother's unsmiling face appearing in flashes. She didn't even need Padril for anything right now. She'd just wanted an out-of house backup in place, as the teenager would surely need one sooner or later. The Slytherin was suddenly regreting her decision to go for a swim.

Padril barked a sharp laugh, maintaining eye contact with Vivianna. "Henrietta Finch? Really? Is that your ace in the hole?" he questioned in a mocking tone."You need to rely on Finch to threaten people. You must really be desperate." The Slytherin actually had some bite now, if she actually did have Henri Finch on her side. As pathetic as it was to rely on her, Finch was popular, and for some godforsaken reason people listened to her. Hufflepuffs would believe him over her, he was sure, but they were hardly social leviathans. He wouldn't have the social power to compete with Finch. But it was more fun to attack Viviana's sense of pride.

"Just tell me what you want," he demanded. "I don't even care about being outed, and I'm sure Damian could handle it. If what you want is ridiculous, then you better believe I'd rather be a pariah. But if it's not much trouble, then that's different. I'd rather have an uneventful school life." He folded his arms, wand still in his hand, and waited for Vivianna response. It churned his stomach to think about doing anything this girl wanted, but if he was honest to be himself, and true to his philosophies, it might be the best thing to do. He still had to decide if he would be actually willing to call Viviana's bluff. If she outed him, her knowledge would become useless. She would lose her advantage over him, and he didn't know Slytherin's to casually do that.

An idea sprang to mind, if he was outed. He wondered if he could pre-empt Vivianna and get to Della, if he could convince her to be his beard. It would make Vivianna look particularly stupid in Henri's eyes, Padril figured. And if he started saying Vivianna had come onto him and he had turned her down in favour of Della, people would assume she started calling him gay in a petty effort to save her dignity and hurt him. If it worked, she would the laughing stock of the school. As angry as he was, he wasn't sure how much he wanted that.

"Henri is hardly my only contact within this school, and the only reason her name was mentioned was because we both know that it would work," the Slytherin spat out quickly. Herni was an interesting enough character, and a part of Vivianna was quite fond of the Ravenclaw, but Padril implying that she was desperate or relying on others was something that witch just couldn't take laying down.

Having defended herself and regained her cool, the teenager's eye's returned to reading Padril. The girl almost laughed when she saw the I'm plotting something gleam in the Hufflepuff's eyes. "Stop trying to out-Slytherin the Slytherin, Crennet," Vivianna announced dryly, "it won't get you anywhere." Hopefully her calling him out on it would knock some sense into the male, such ideas were pointless.

The witch took a few moments in an attempt to get her mind straight. How was she supposed to answer Padril? What she wanted was hardly simple. "It's complicated," Vivianna finally admitted slowly, "I need to know that as soon as I tell you, you're not going to go running off to tell a Professor. Not that they'll be able to do anything, but I don't need adults keeping an eye on me." The witch reached up to tug on a blue stand of hair, if she wasn't careful this would quickly become a new habit. When Vivianna spoke again, her voice was much softer, "It might sound odd, but I think you might even agree with me, in the end. It all depends I guess, on your opinion of means in correlation to ends. Personally, I don't think a bad thing can be truly justified by what it succeeds. But sometimes, the end result is worth it anyway."

Padril rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, his anger slowly subsiding into frustration and curiosity. He was enjoying this banter. He hadn't really had someone he could match barbed wits with since he left his brother at home- he liked all his friends far too much to insult them at all. In the part of himself that enjoyed dark humour and tragedies, though, there was love for a perfectly delivered and appropriate verbal attack. And a parry was something to be respected.

"There is no way to assure that I won't run to a teacher," he said tiredly. "It really is a gamble you should have been willing to make before doing this whole business. So stop with your obtuse wordplay and spit it out." He made a point of pretending to look bored and took a few steps back from her, now mindless of her cat. This girl still frustrated him with her arrogance, but the anger had turned to pity. Regret started to compound on how he had reacted. He hadn't played it cool at all; that would've been the obvious thing to do. Just pretend he wasn't gay and just keep walking, dealing with the problem later. That would've tripped her up.

Vivianna chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, before letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, just- fine. I'm not going to ask you not to judge, but I will ask you not to make assumptions until you listen to what I have to say. I do hope that's fair enough for you," her voice was dry, emotionless, tired. The witch never let people see her this way, always needing to appear strong and impenetrable. She tried, but she was only human.

"I don't know how much you're aware of, but I'm sure you've heard the whispers. An uprising, a group formed to go against the Ministry. A group that believes that our current government is corrupt and needs to be fixed, no matter what the traditionalists say. You're a muggleborn, there's nothing wrong with that, you know plenty about magic. But there's stuff you don't know, like what it's truly like to be a part of this messed up society." And how Vivianna loathed their society, and the idiots that lived their entire lives in naïve bliss.

"There are other beings with intelligence easily comparable to ours, and have the rights of a common household pet! Hell, vampires have only been allowed to own wands for a few years now, and still are considered lower than dirt by some! Over half of our laws don't make sense or just don't apply anymore, and yet the mere suggestion that the traditional ways aren't perfect, is enough for the Ministry to keep en eye on you forever. Our government is messed up, Crennent, and I'm one of the few people in this country with enough intelligence to give a shit, and enough guts to do something about it," the teenager ended her speech strongly, breath only slightly heavy. Sure, the Hufflepuff could call her insane, but hell, this was one of the few non-selfish things she'd ever done. And no argument could convince her than she was wrong.

Anger vanquished immediately, replaced with fear and concern. Padril's features became completely impassive as Vivianna's information hit him. Overthrowing the government, regardless of one's motivations, was rarely a good idea. Usually it just involved the power of a small elite falling into the hands of another small elite, who changes the law to oppress other people. If it was people like Vivianna Varnes running the world after this so-called rebellion, Padril shuddered to think of what would happen. And even before then, both sides in a rebellion tended to use gruesome methods to achieve their goals. A lot of terrible things would happen if these plans came to fruition.

And yet Padril had been telling people for years there was a serious problem with wizarding culture, but to what extent had those problems been created by a corrupt Ministry. It was concerning, he could admit there were problems, but outright violence was certainly not the solution. Slow, sustained reform was needed. It wasn't as dramatic, and the reformists wouldn't be guaranteed power, which is why such reforms rarely happened. You needed noble people who were truly selfless and dedicated to the cause, like Dr. King or Gandhi. He didn't like, or trust, this rebellion a single bit to be like that. They had a good cause, he would concede, but all terrorists did.

If Vivianna was truly involved with these rebels though, she was in way over her head. And if Padril could attach himself to her, and through her the movement, he might be able to save some lives. Or at least restrain Vivianna. And while he was it, he could investigate the Rebels and help out the Ministry the best he could. Hopefully this whole rebellion thing would just turn out to be politically-engaged kids with too much time on their hands.

"Alright," he said at last. "I won't turn you into the Headmaster. Now what? Do you have a list of gay people you want to blackmail? Are we a team then? You be the good cop." If he had to work with her, there was absolutely no way he wasn't going to mock her every chance he got. He didn't think he was physically capable of anything else.

"Wonderful," Vivianna announced sarcastically. Padril seemed like he might at least understand, but she was pretty sure that the male still didn't get it. "Shut up Crennent, no need to get snippy with me. I wasn't even planning upon throwing this at you when I first approached. I'll admit that our conversation... got a bit out of hand," the girl wasn't afraid to admit that.

"Besides, we both know that you'd be the good cop. I'd like to see you pull off bad cop better than me," the teenager added after a moment. Shaking away the ridiculous statement, the Slytherin automatically wondered if Padril would notice her comprehension of the muggle reference.

"Look, I don't know what's going through your mind right now. But you have to admit that our government is terrible and is honestly hurting innocents for no reason whatsoever. It's been pretty hushed up, so it's not something that you'll find in the history books, but we aren't the first people who have tried to achieve this. There's record of at least four different sets of people trying to do something over the last 150 years. Every single one has tried to do it peacefully, and every single one has failed. We're not building an army, just," the young witch paused for a moment here, "planning a reformation. I'm sure you hate me, think I'm not a nice person, but I'm not doing this for me. Hell, I gain from some of the stupid laws in effect. But being legally allowed to murder another being in cold blood with no consequences, as long as you testify to the idiotically biased Wizengamot that you felt threatened by their presence, crosses a line," the redhead's words were bitter. She'd seen it happen. A young vampire had tripped, gotten hurt, and reflexively bared her fangs. She was murdered on the spot by a man who had something against the species, and he'd gotten off scott-free because the "monster clearly had the intention of attacking him". She had been five. The human still lived in fear that the same thing would happen to one of her cousins some day, and the witch would be unable to stop it.